Quite Ugly One Morning

Rating:
Summary: Ugly is also in the eye of the beholder
Review: ...I wandered into a bookshop and found this gem. This is one old-style hard-boiled crime novels with REALLY UGLY bad guys and an almost suprehero good guy - in this case a hard case Scottish journalist who has seen and done it all. He practically trips over the throat slashing victim and considers the murder a "creative masterpiece". Think Phillip Marlowe, but in black jeans. Things get messier and messier. Not quite a quick read (214 pages), but if you like this sort of thing when feeding your own escapist tendencies, I think you'll join me in eagerly awaiting more from Chritopher Brookmyre.

Rating:
Summary: Brookmyre's sterling ear
Review: Brookmyre has an ear for dialogue and the absurdities of daily life in Scotland that takes us back to Scott's "The ANTIQUARY." Nothing is too big or too small for him to lampoon, but with love. He takes a long walk around each of his targets, then closes in, and then--wham. It's nothin' but dust. Not only that, but he can whip up a good crime plot without even breaking a sweat. The banter between his hero and his attractive co-workers is always funny, reminding me of early episodes of the US cult hit MOONLIGHTING, before it lost its cutting edge and went soft.

I suppose that's the danger Christopher Brookmyre faces, because along with his current adulation a little bit of softening is bound to creep in like termites in an old house. Never mind, soon he'll be satirizing himself . . . "quite ugly one morning."

Rating:
Summary: glaswegian noir
Review: feel like an attack of the sniggers? read "quite ugly one morning" by christopher brookmyre, a scot who writes fabulous female characters. *have* to get more of his stuff. the book is peopled with credible characters. the hitman is a shellsuit-wearing doofus from cortina-land with poor impulse control called darren. just enough brains to be dangerous. but only just - priceless. a funky chick called sarah slaughter - a doctor, no less. and more. it's full of constant digs at thatcher and portillo and the national health service. never has a mutilated corpse been so funny. a balm to the soul.

Rating:
Summary: glaswegian noir
Review: feel like an attack of the sniggers? read "quite ugly one morning" by christopher brookmyre, a scot who writes fabulous female characters. *have* to get more of his stuff. the book is peopled with credible characters. the hitman is a shellsuit-wearing doofus from cortina-land with poor impulse control called darren. just enough brains to be dangerous. but only just - priceless. a funky chick called sarah slaughter - a doctor, no less. and more. it's full of constant digs at thatcher and portillo and the national health service. never has a mutilated corpse been so funny. a balm to the soul.

Rating:
Summary: The best in British fiction
Review: Great tale of the underhanded financial coup of a wannabe Portillo (Aaargh), foiled by the collaboration of a pesky non standard threesome compiling lesbian cop, walking-dead-journalist and English born, pseudo Scottish anaesthatist. The brutality of several murders is tempered by humour that makes you splutter; and the tension as the plot thickens, darkens and finally becomes clear is all the better for avoiding the formulaic pitfalls of 'boy meets girl' having any relevance on the scene Brookmyre so diligently sets. Good fun. Worth an evening's dedicated read.

Rating:
Summary: Upcoming British Star!
Review: I believe this was Brookmyre's first book and got me hooked on his writing. For American readers, one word of advice: just schlog through the first chapter! He writes in Scottish-accent so the beginning might be difficult to get into, but, please please, persevere, it is worth it. I laughed out loud - laughed so much I started crying! I have passed the book around to several friends and they all loved it. The story is absolutely crazy and amusing. Brookmyre has written several new books, but I still like this one the best. It is so, in your face and you will never read anything like this again!

Rating:
Summary: Upcoming British Star!
Review: I believe this was Brookmyre's first book and got me hooked on his writing. For American readers, one word of advice: just schlog through the first chapter! He writes in Scottish-accent so the beginning might be difficult to get into, but, please please, persevere, it is worth it. I laughed out loud - laughed so much I started crying! I have passed the book around to several friends and they all loved it. The story is absolutely crazy and amusing. Brookmyre has written several new books, but I still like this one the best. It is so, in your face and you will never read anything like this again!

Rating:
Summary: Fun Cartoony Crime Novel
Review: I first read Brookmyre in the Fresh Blood 2 anthology, where his story "Bampot Central" had me in stitches (the story is also posted on Brookmyre's website). I then read his book to be publishedin the US, "Not the End of the World," which is a fairly predictable Los Angeles-set thriller, suitable for a long rainy night or airplane, but little else. I thought I'd give him one more chance to wow me with this, his prize-winning first novel.

I have to say, I'm not sure what other reviewers are talking about when they throw out terms like "noir", "pulp", or "Irvine Welsh" when talking about this book. I mean, it is a crime story, and it is set in Edinburgh, and there are a (very) few Scottish idioms, but otherwise it's a pretty mainstream crime novel, heavily laced with humor. It's not noir at all, it's not Irvine Welsh at all (unless you think Irvine Welsh invented black humor), and it's only pulp in the Quentin Tarantino sense, which is to say, hip postmodern neo-pulp. There are some rather gory scenes at the beginning and end, but it's all handled with so much comedy and wisecracking that it's more cartoon show than horrorshow. Think Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiassen rather than Raymond Chandler or James M. Cain.

In any event, the story is a mostly enjoyable tale about corruption within the National Health Trust system. Hero investigative journalist Jack Parlabane literally stumbles into a cover-up murder and then teams up with a female cop and the murder victim's ex-wife to get to the bottom of it all. Fast-paced, with some memorable villains (the shell-suited hitman is a riot), and plenty of digs at Thatcheism and privatization schemes, it's a fun read with plenty of one-liners, but unlikely to make a lasting impression.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books ...
Review: Investigative reporter, Jack Parlabane, is having a bad day as he attends the discovery of the mutilated corpse of a prominent doctor. Then his day gets worse. He learns that the doctor had a bad betting habit. A large bundle of cash in his apartment suggests another source of income. This leads Parlabane to hunt for the source of the money.

Brookmyre is probably the only author who can make tears roll down my cheeks from laughing. He's certainly the only one who can describe a corpse and make it funny. He's a sort of mixture between Billy Connelly and Tom Sharpe but better than both. And yet his novels make some keen and cutting social observations that probably offend a large number of would-be readers. Tough! What you see is what you get with Brookmyre. He's about as irreverent as they come and some of his lines are absolutely priceless.

I guess he's not caught on as much on the American side of the big pond as he has in The Old Country, but you've only got yourselves to blame. His books are there, and you've just got to take the trouble to find them. Read this, even if you've got to buy it used.

Also VERY highly recommended are 'One Fine Day in The Middle of The Night', 'Boiling a Frog' and 'Not The End of the World', all by the same author. AND HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS...

Oh - and watch out for his latest release... 'A Big Boy did it and Ran Away'....

Rating:
Summary: Nothing to get excited about.
Review: This book came highly recommended, but left me disappointed. Similar crude style as Irvine Welsh, but lacked depth in the story. Mildly entertaining and good fun I suppose, but nothing to get excited about.