Animal Lover

by Raymond Friel

Danny is in trouble. A wannabe animal rights activist and modern day hero, none of this was supposed to happen. After his first attempt at animal liberation ends badly, things go rapidly downhill. In the supermarket where he works his behaviour is becoming more erratic and a number of people, including his boss (a big Jim Davidson fan), a Goth grocery girl (and also teenage poet) and a security guard (enough said) are all out to get him. The woman he loves, Shona, is becoming more extreme by the minute and when they hook up with some hunt saboteurs she's more interested in digging up human graves and stealing the remains than saving foxes. Danny doesn't waste his time at the hunt either

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2013

About the author

Raymond Friel is a Scottish screenwriter with two feature film credits, The Calcium Kid and Botched, both of which were released in cinemas in the UK and distributed worldwide.

Reviews

[Vix S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the turns of phrase in this book made me guffaw out loud while reading at work. I had to put it down at times, because I was getting a lot of side-eye.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Animal Lover - Raymond Friel Tonight. Tonight is all that matters. Every thing else, all this, neon lights and the smell of disinfectant and dead chickens, don't let it get to you, Danny. Baked beans, not a problem. On the shelf they go. Super Danny. By day, a quiet supermarket shelf stacker, but by night... well. It didn't quite work out the way I'd planned . My first attempt at animal liberation was a disaster. It was all going so well until... well, I guess you'll find out. But after that night, everything started to spiral out of control. Everyone at work was out to get me for something or other. The woman I loved was becoming more extreme by the day. My ratio of animals saved versus animals killed was changing rapidly. And not in the direction I want it to. Super Danny? Not quite. Not even close. It treble or nothing time, and next week, the circus is coming to town.
 
Well this was an interesting read. Danny is a twenty-two year old activists who wants to stop animal cruelty. At the beginning, we jump straight into the action where him and a few of his friends break into a lab to release the test subject puppies. Long story short it doesn't go to plan and they end up being chased onto the roof with no way down without being caught. So they decide to chuck all the dogs off the roof... I'll just let that sink in... Afterwards they are scarred for life.
 
Shona, one of Danny's friends, goes a bit crazy and shaves her hair off and constantly wears a balaclava in public. She befriends a guy who is really passionate about stopping animal cruelty so him and group of other people try to stop a hunt but the fox still ends up getting killed and Danny basically becomes friends with a skull. Then for the grand finale they head to circus. Animal Lover is a rather easy and short book to read, you could say short and sweet but I wouldn't say it was sweet at all.

[Ceri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irvine Welsh meets Animal Ark. Dark, funny, downright weird but I enjoyed it immensely!