Brendan McFadden is an accomplished, rugby-playing doctor from Cork for whom everything in life has fallen nicely into place. His school friend, Trevor, hasn’t been so lucky: he’s in a miserable marriage and his career has so far been a series of false starts and financial disasters.

A lads’ weekend in Amsterdam sets off a dark chain of events, forcing Brendan to confront long-buried truths—not just about Trevor, but also about himself.

What begins as a humorous meditation on middle-aged malaise quickly spirals into a whirlwind of envy, betrayal, and suppressed longing. From the bleak isolation of a hotel bar on Amsterdam’s outskirts to the rugged beauty of Ireland’s Tory Island, Brendan’s carefully constructed world begins to unravel in ways that are both absurdly comic and profoundly unsettling.

With biting humour, an astute eye for the absurdities of human behaviour and some satisfying twists, Knives and Forks is a wickedly entertaining tale of fragile egos, simmering tensions, and the messy truths that emerge when façades crumble.

Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven literary fiction with a sharp comedic edge, Knives and Forks is a richly layered debut that will leave you laughing, cringing, and questioning where the line between sanity and madness truly lies.