A broad attack on politics in "Celtic Tiger" Ireland,[2] as well as a rite of passage novel, it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards.
It can be read as a satirical allegory on corruption, the link between capitalism and liberal democracy exemplified in the 'entrepreneurial' activities of minor drug dealers and gangsters, and reflected in the architecture of business parks and sink estates.
His provocative political blog, The Ice Moon, has increasingly featured harsh criticism of the Irish government over their handling of the economy, as well as reviews of mainly left-wing books and movies.
[6] Described by writer Kate Atkinson as "lyrical and cruel and bold and with metaphors to die for", critics have focused on Wall's mastery of language, his gift for "linguistic compression",[3] his "poet's gift for apposite, wry observation, dialogue and character",[7] his "unflinching frankness"[8] and his "laser-like ... dissection of human frailties",[9] which is counterbalanced by "the depth of feeling that Wall invests in his work".
[10] In a recent review, his long poem "Job in Heathrow", anthologised in The Forward Book of Poetry 2010 but originally published in The SHOp,[11] was described as "a chilling airport dystopia".
[13] "His apocalyptic vision of the ecological demise of our planet is suffused with humility and resignation where the global catastrophe is transformed "into a universal truth / the days are shorter / today than yesterday"",[14] according to Borbála Faragó.