Dark, mischievous...enlightening and educating...my history book of the year. (RYAN TUBRIDY, RTE RADIO 1, October, 2020)

‘The Darkness Echoing is provocative without being polemical. O’Brien is unafraid to offer both laconic asides and trenchant critiques, but as she writes as both a practitioner of public history and an academic her book has a refreshingly open-minded tone that offers historical complexity without hectoring. She has tried to do something different and has succeeded admirably; in doing so she has written as significant a commentary on Irish history as any that has appeared in recent years. The Darkness Echoing is a hugely enjoyable, thought-provoking and informative work; for anyone involved in Irish history or heritage it is an essential read’. (John Gibney, HISTORY IRELAND, Jan 2021)

The Darkness Echoing is not just a critique of Ireland’s dark tourism but also a contemporary commentary on a range of social, economic and political issues. It is written in an accessible way, with unexpected humour… What is ground-breaking is the way O’Brien looks at our historical past… the author’s contribution to the ongoing debate of the ommissions in our narratives will be sought out precisely because she captured the ‘fragile’ nature of our difficult stories…what she succeeds in achieving is ‘bringing the country to life’. (Sinead McCoole, IRISH HISTORICAL STUDIES, 2021)

‘This is not a typical academic history book. The Darkness Echoing is a refreshing read in which [O’Brien] seamlessly weaves scholarly research together with personal stories…. Overall, The Darkness Echoing is a brilliant book… It makes a valuable contribution to Irish history and Museum Studies scholarship through its meticulous historical research. The book is written in an accessible way, making it appealing to people interested in death rituals, travel and tourism, museums and heritage sites and family history. It is engaging, endearing and warm while being critical, analytical, and informative; a rare find in academic history books’. (Emma J. McAlister, MUSEUM IRELAND, 2020)

‘Broadranging, diverse and fascinating, she guides us through Irish history via her ‘personal odyssey into the dark heart of Ireland’... Because it informs reliably about Irish history, while being simultaneously witty and readable, if added to our teenagers’ reading lists for history exams, it would go a long way towards making the subject more fun… This book bristles with sharp insights and I cannot recommend it highly enough’. (Claudia Kinmonth, BEASCNA, 2022)

‘Given the magnetic draw [of dungeons], it is a mystery why no one has written dungeon-centric history before, but here on is - of Ireland - and it works magnificently… Dr Gillian O’Brien delivers such an effective education into the last 400 years of Irish history that more conventional historians might wish to take note. (STRONG WORDS Magazine, December 2020. Also STRONG WORDS History Book of the Year, 2020)

‘It is a book that moves at the rate of the intrepid, interested tourist, but with the perception of the expert & this is what makes it such an engaging read'. (Niamh NicGabhann, SAOTHAR, Summer 2021)

‘The Darkness Echoing is a highly original book, academically rigorous and sharply observed’ (Andrew Lynch, SUNDAY BUSINESS POST, December 2020)

“O’Brien asks incisive questions about how the past is remembered….A powerful chapter on death considers graveyards, megalithic tombs, and the ethics of exhibiting bog bodies and other human remains, as well as Irish funerary traditions. The finest parts of the book are those on the Great Famine and the history of incarceration in Ireland. Here O’Brien offers her most stimulating observations…. the book is also often funny. The narrative features jokes galore and is interspersed with comic anecdotes about O’Brien’s grandmother, Nana…. The book concludes with a timely call to reform the national heritage industry. O’Brien highlights how mainstream versions of the Irish past often exclude marginalised groups, such as the Traveller community, women oppressed by church or State, LGBTQI+ people and recent immigrants to Ireland. In O’Brien’s view, museums and heritage sites should embrace the moral imperative to represent more critically and fully the complexities of Ireland’s past. With such powerful conclusions, The Darkness Echoing is as thought-provoking as it is informative and entertaining.” (Chris Cusack, THE IRISH TIMES, October 2020)

“O’Brien’s meticulously researched book…is academic writing at its most accessible” NEW YORK TIMES (July 2015)

“With a thoroughness and insight worthy of an academic Sherlock Holmes O’Brien has mined newspaper accounts, court records and archives in Ireland, Britain and the US to breathe life into the people and events connected to the case.” IRISH TIMES (March 2015)

“O’Brien paints a vivid picture of what was then the longest-running trial in US history with a verve that would make John Grisham and company green with envy. . .. Blood Runs Green is all that’s best in academic writing: detailed research, accessible writing – a rattling good yarn. It certainly kept me turning the pages like the best crime novel.” TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (March 2015)

“The 1889 murder of Patrick Henry Cronin, an Irish-American physician and political activist, was one of the great scandals of late 19th-century US public life. O’Brien . . . recounts the story with enormous verve and gripping detail.” FINANCIAL TIMES (November 2015)

“Blood Runs Green brings together the many and varied angles of this sinister story in a compelling narrative—one that affords the suspense we associate with the best of the True Crime genre, and with the care and discrimination we expect to find in good historical writing.” NEW HIBERNIA REVIEW (June 2015)

"O'Brien takes a fresh and compelling look at the case, exploring its origins in a disastrous dispute among Irish nationalists over how to fight the British oppression of their homeland. . . . The book left me thinking about even broader questions. Amid our latest national debates on race and justice, I wondered if anything has fundamentally changed about our appetite for heroes, villains, and instant judgments.” CHICAGO READER (May 2015)