Not the End of the World

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - in line with his other books
Review: Brookmyre has the killer touch when it comes to exposing the hypocrisy of religious fundamentalism. In 'Not the End of the World', he makes a pretty good meal of the media as well!. His humor is really 'in-your-face' - not passive beach reading as one reviewer believes - and, if you look below the (excellent) storyline, you'll see some remarkably accurate social observations about life in general.

Try and get his other books -'One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night', 'Quite Ugly one Morning' and 'Boiling a Frog' - they're also excellent reads.

Rating:
Summary: Very Funny
Review: Christopher Brookmyre is an unusual writer. His works are sort of detective fiction, sort of block buster thriller and sort of left wing satire. Until this book all of his books were set in Scotland. His first book quite ugly one morning introduced a new sort of hero, a short sarcastic investigative reporter called Parlabane.

This book is set in Los Angles but one of the main characters is a visiting Scots photographer. The plot is as with his other works somewhat convoluted and ends in a climax which would not be out of place in a Bruce Willis movie. Along the way there is a ferocious satire of Baptist Evangelical Sects and the consumerist aspects of American life.

The main attraction of the book apart from the non stop action is the fact that it is side splittingly funny. Brookmyre is one of the most amusing authors to write mystery fiction. The humour however has a distinctly adult bite to it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent satire
Review: I actually bought this book because it, then, had a slight science fiction theme, and had received a sterling review in New Scientist. I ususally do not go for thrillers, but I do make now make exceptions for Christopher Brookmyre! This book is highly satirical, funny, grisly, and thoughtprovoking. The heroes work in porn industry, and the crooks are biblethumpers and "patriots".

Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed
Review: I am a big Brookmyre fan and was a little disappointed with his stab at a story set in the US. There Scottish connection is still there, with the main character a Scotsman, but the punch just wasn't there - which really is his trademark. Just read "Quite Ugly One Morning" and you will see. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the book, but it just wasn't up to his usual standard, that's all.

Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed
Review: I am a big Brookmyre fan and was a little disappointed with his stab at a story set in the US. There Scottish connection is still there, with the main character a Scotsman, but the punch just wasn't there - which really is his trademark. Just read "Quite Ugly One Morning" and you will see. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the book, but it just wasn't up to his usual standard, that's all.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it -- Top class thriller meets pop culture
Review: I bought this book in London in 1999 for my long flight back to Sydney. Well, I arrived exhausted and even more jet-lagged than usual because I couldn't put it down!

Brookmyre melds a fantastically twisted thriller with an amused outsider view of LA pop culture and fervent religious fanaticism. Smart, fun, perceptive, great characters -- a great all-rounder. This is a really enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT
Review: I guess, reading the other reviews, you either love Brookmyre or you hate him! I loved him. Brilliant book, brilliantly written, with more than a touch of black humor. This guy has guts, and he tells it like it is. Recommended reading for anyone who lives in the real world.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Social Satire
Review: NOT THE END OF THE WORLD is an apocalyptic millennial book that is dark comedy at its darkest. Although Brookmyre missed a bit on the facts and timing, this tale of fanatical religious zealots trying to destroy America and rebuild it in their image is unfortunately all too timely. The zealots in this fictional account are Christian, not Moslem; but when dealing with fanaticism the exact flavor scarcely matters. However, Brookmyre uses his book to mount a scathing attack on fundamentalism of any sort and simultaneously makes a compelling, albeit tragically jaded, case for atheism: "Some wee old spinster in Coatsbridge, in her hairy coat, plastic Rainmate and furry boots, nipping into the Co-op minimarket for a half-pound of cheap mince on the way home from the chapel, Scottish Catholic Universe under her arm, might tell herself she wasn't, spiritually speaking, doing any harm. But she'd be kidding herself. And acting the humble innocent wouldn't help. Hardline Islamics would have her on the dress-code, for a start. Vain, shameless slattern, flaunting herself like that in public, for all the world to see. Hindus wouldn't go a bundle on her planned ingestion of bloody flesh, or her wider complicity in the sacred animal's slaughter. Attendance at the 'temple of the Satanic anti-Christ of Rome' remains something of a no-no as far as the Scottish Free Presbyterians and Ian Paisley's mob are concerned. And as for a woman being able to read, well, ask the Taleban about that in Kabul. Then duck. Cumulatively, the world's religions could provide a God-given justification to hate anything about anybody. Steff had decided some years ago to hate them all back." And there is much more. In fact, Brookmyre's apparent vitriol toward organized religion is so strong that I am surprised the book was published in America at all.

But those of us who are not offended by that point of view will find NOT THE END OF THE WORLD a terrific thriller, with a fascinating and ever-twisting plot that engages the reader throughout. Just when I thought I knew what would happen next the action took another unexpected but plausible turn. And the characterizations were engaging; even the villains had some sympathetic motivations to their heinous plans.

Brookmyre has a darkly wicked sense of humor and pays homage to the Monty Python gang and Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, among others. All in all, NOT THE END OF THE WORLD is definitely worth a read, even though the dates in the book didn't quite pan out. People are still reading 1984, aren't they?

Rating:
Summary: Brookmyre does it again
Review: There is a certain style of writing that compels you to read until you finish. And then there is a another style that compels you to go and find any other book written by the same author. Fitting into the latter category, the story is as humorous as it is action packed, and is so fast moving that you are simply disappointed when there are no more pages left. Of course you can simply start again, and you'll find that it is just as good on the second pass. The story is great, and will be enjoyed by anyone with school day memories, either good or bad. Of course, the story has very little to do with school day memories and everything to with life, albeit not quite exactly in circumstances that you will find yourself in. Unless of course you are a mercenary with a conscience... Quite simply read this, have a single malt in hand and enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Really Bad
Review: This attack on hypocrisy, religion and the mass media masquerades as a millennial thriller, and while enjoyable in a beach-reading kind of way, doesn't really leave much of a mark. Certainly Brookmyre's targets are valid (albeit obvious and easy to demolish), and he does yeoman's work in blasting away at all the self-righteous characters that scheme to destroy LA in a SPECTRE-like operation. His two central heroes (Senator's daughter turned porn-star and Scottish seminarian turned photographer) are fairly adorable, and the rest of the cast is admirably drawn in a Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard kind of way. As with most thrillers, it's fairly predictable, the fun is in seeing how the heroes deal with the mayhem. One small thing I found really jarring was the 5 or 6 times he has American characters using a English or Scottish idiom in their speech or thoughts. The editors need to have an American read the manuscript to point these errors out.