Obscura is the sort of novel that doesn’t simply tell a story — it summons you into one. From the first chapter, there’s a sense that something ancient is stirring beneath the surface, waiting for a reader patient enough to follow its ink-dark trail.

Set in Westport, 1883, the book opens with an execution… but the true mystery begins only after death. Henry Debosnys’ tattooed body, covered in anatomical markings and symbols that feel equal parts ritualistic and prophetic, becomes the centrepiece of a riddle that stretches far beyond the morgue. It’s a brilliant hook — visceral, unsettling, and impossible to ignore.

Enter Felicious de Foret, a scholar whose calm, methodical exterior hides a past he hoped he’d outrun. When he recognises Debosnys, not as a stranger but as a ghost from his own history, the novel shifts into something far richer: a psychological descent threaded with secret societies, coded manuscripts, and betrayals that echo across continents and decades.

What makes Obscura truly memorable is Virel’s command of atmosphere. The writing is lush but controlled — every candlelit chamber, every ink-stained page, every shadowed alleyway feels dense with portent. There’s a quiet elegance to the prose, a confidence that allows the tension to build in subtle, tightening coils rather than cheap shocks.

Thematically, the book is extraordinary.

Obscura becomes more than a name — it becomes a meditation on what we bury in our bodies, our memories, and our histories. Some truths are carved into skin; others lodge themselves deep in the psyche, refusing to fade, no matter how carefully we try to smother them. Felicious’ journey isn’t just about solving a puzzle — it’s about confronting the parts of himself he hoped no one, living or dead, would ever unravel.

For readers who crave historical mysteries laced with gothic tension, for lovers of codes, secrets, and psychological complexity, and for anyone who appreciates fiction that treats history not as a backdrop but as a living, breathing force—Obscura is a gem waiting to be discovered.

Haunting, intelligent, and beautifully wrought — a remarkable debut that lingers long after the final page.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read my Goodreads review here.