THIS entire book is about a boy.

And not once, during the whole story, do you find out his name.

Why author Niall Williams chose to omit this rather basic piece of information is a mystery. But perhaps it is testament to his easy, beautiful prose that this reader didn't notice the omission until well into chapter three.

Boy in the World is the story of a child on the cusp of adulthood.

The novel is about his journey . . .

both geographical and emotional . . .

in search of his father, whom he has just discovered is still alive.

Author Niall Williams has based many of his bestselling books in Co Clare, where he lives with his family. This story too starts in a sleepy village, deep in the west of Ireland, before accelerating the pace to bring the boy across Europe and, eventually, across continents.

Contrary to the enthusiastic claims on the book cover, this is not a "heart-warming tale".

Rather, it's a story of loss, more loss, confusion, violence, and loss, peppered with a little bit of love and redemption towards the end.

Indeed, there's a particularly desperate point when it seems as if the next step could only be death.

Because things couldn't get much worse for our hero.

This hits you just when the boy finds himself lost in a large wooded area in Germany, believing he is totally alone in the world. And he is. No-one but German police interested are in finding him. And they only want to talk to him about possibly being a terrorist.

But despite the litany of emotional and physical damage that befalls the boy (getting annoying not knowing his name? ), in the background there is always the butterfly, the symbol of love and God and life that is used liberally by Williams to keep his hope . . . and that of the reader . . . alive.

It's not as heavy or as sad as it sounds. Using some really stunning descriptive prose, Williams pulls you gently along on a wave of sounds and pictures. He writes differently, and succeeds in creating vivid images that stay in your mind long after the book is closed.

He says that eyes are "polished with grief", rather than 'shining'.

It's the type of writing that makes you pause.

The story itself is action-packed.

Don't be lulled into a false sense of security; there is death and destruction around every corner.

The ending is probably going to be a contentious source of discussion in book clubs around the country.

Is it a cop-out, or the sign of a mature author not to tie up everything at the end? You decide. It's worth the journey.