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Refusal Shoes
“Part thriller, part exposé, Refusal Shoes is refreshingly politically incorrect and wickedly funny.”— Observer When Immigration Officer Henry Brinks unwittingly stumbles upon a scam to smuggle Chinese crooks into the country, he realizes that unless he can come up with a plan of his own, he’ll be leaving the service a lot sooner than anticipated. Refusal Shoes is a hilarious and brutal take on the murky world of passport control, where the immigration officers have seen every trick in the book and aren’t afraid to use a few of their own.
224 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 5, 2007
The plot is perfunctory at best but the behind-the-screens look into the world of the British immigration officers is fascinating and darkly comic.
April 29, 2010
RATING: 3.0
Tony Saint was an Immigration Officer (IO) for the United Kingdom Immigration Service for ten years, and his debut novel features the inhabitants of that very strange world. The department has a wide variety of personality types filling its ranks. There are those who enjoy the job, particularly the act of refusing entry to the people trying to enter the country. There are actual contests for who can refuse the most people. The criteria may be as trivial as the kind of shoes that the person is wearing. There are IOs who involved in crooked dealings, IOs who basically sleepwalk their way through their career and Henry Brinks, who can't stand the job but stays until he can pay off his debts. Henry is not destined for great things in the Service, as he is a bit too soft-hearted and has a below average refusal rate.
One day, Henry is interviewing a Chinese man by the name of Xiao when the case is snatched from him by his co-worker, Ed Thorough. Henry enters the case in the system, only to find out later there is a warrant out for Xiao. He is naturally worried that he has done something wrong and tries to cover himself by speaking with Thorough who has a lot of glib answers that make Henry wonder what is going on. At the same time, there is a lot of jockeying in the organization to get an easier assignment elsewhere. Somehow Henry ends up as a target and knows that evidence is going to be planted in his locker with the result being that he is jail bait. He comes up with a plan to thwart this action, and the result is more than satisfying.
Saint did a great job of building a varied group of characters and the motivations that made them what they were, with Henry being the best of the bunch. However, the setting was very insular (the Immigration building) which resulted in feeling like being stuck in one place for too long, a place where no one would really want to spend much time. There really isn't much of a plot; we're more or less following an IO who's in trouble through several work shifts.
Although REFUSAL SHOES is meant to be satiric, I found it quite horrifying to see how the Immigration Officers treated the people who came before them. Their meanness at times bordered on being abusive. Much of the narrative is meant to be humorous, but I found the outrageous prejudices exhibited by the various immigration employees to be nothing to laugh at.
Tony Saint was an Immigration Officer (IO) for the United Kingdom Immigration Service for ten years, and his debut novel features the inhabitants of that very strange world. The department has a wide variety of personality types filling its ranks. There are those who enjoy the job, particularly the act of refusing entry to the people trying to enter the country. There are actual contests for who can refuse the most people. The criteria may be as trivial as the kind of shoes that the person is wearing. There are IOs who involved in crooked dealings, IOs who basically sleepwalk their way through their career and Henry Brinks, who can't stand the job but stays until he can pay off his debts. Henry is not destined for great things in the Service, as he is a bit too soft-hearted and has a below average refusal rate.
One day, Henry is interviewing a Chinese man by the name of Xiao when the case is snatched from him by his co-worker, Ed Thorough. Henry enters the case in the system, only to find out later there is a warrant out for Xiao. He is naturally worried that he has done something wrong and tries to cover himself by speaking with Thorough who has a lot of glib answers that make Henry wonder what is going on. At the same time, there is a lot of jockeying in the organization to get an easier assignment elsewhere. Somehow Henry ends up as a target and knows that evidence is going to be planted in his locker with the result being that he is jail bait. He comes up with a plan to thwart this action, and the result is more than satisfying.
Saint did a great job of building a varied group of characters and the motivations that made them what they were, with Henry being the best of the bunch. However, the setting was very insular (the Immigration building) which resulted in feeling like being stuck in one place for too long, a place where no one would really want to spend much time. There really isn't much of a plot; we're more or less following an IO who's in trouble through several work shifts.
Although REFUSAL SHOES is meant to be satiric, I found it quite horrifying to see how the Immigration Officers treated the people who came before them. Their meanness at times bordered on being abusive. Much of the narrative is meant to be humorous, but I found the outrageous prejudices exhibited by the various immigration employees to be nothing to laugh at.
December 30, 2018
I first read this book years ago, and came back to it during Christmas Season Brexit bigotry and chaos and it holds up really well. I'd originally found the book to be laugh out loud funny, but everything takes on a different tone lately.
January 26, 2018
This black comedy, set amongst immigration officers at a London airport, is neither as black nor as comic as promised but develops into a fairly involving story of a rather innocent officer aware he is to be set up after he realises a senior colleague is providing false visas. The characters are uncomfortably genuine and all dysfunctional, while the details of the migration scams and corruption reek of authenticity. After the hesitant opening few chapters it develops into an entertaining read but without much of a real plot.
December 29, 2012
Poor. If you feel you want to read it, just read the last two chapters. Saint manages to stretch out a feeble 'plot' through the first four, reaching a hurried conclusion in the final two, short chapters.
I didn't find it witty or clever, as you may expect a darkly comic exposé-style piece of writing to be. It felt pithy, unadventurous and lacklustre, only entering the realms of 'vaguely redeemable features' in Chapters 5 & 6.
I didn't find it witty or clever, as you may expect a darkly comic exposé-style piece of writing to be. It felt pithy, unadventurous and lacklustre, only entering the realms of 'vaguely redeemable features' in Chapters 5 & 6.
May 1, 2009
Supposed to be an expose of UK immigration practices by someone who spent albeit a very short time workinng there. Comes across as an excuse to air sour grapes or an effort as being as offensive as possible??Won't win any awards.......
July 28, 2011
This book made me cry with laughter, it's a frank and hilarious look at all that's wrong with the Immigration service in this country written by an ex Immigration officer.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews