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Good News, Bad News
Meet Charlie. An everyday bloke. Good news is, he has a job. Bad news is, it's in a photo kiosk. He whiles away the hours with his rather eccentric colleague George. But appearances can be deceptive. You see, there is one line of work where taking the world at face value can be very foolish indeed. Where trusting someone -- anyone -- is the most dangerous thing you can ever do. The truth is, Charlie and George have not been very honest with each other. The truth is, this isn't their number one career choice. Their real jobs are a hell of a lot more dangerous. It's time to come clean. But the truth could very well kill them!
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
May 9, 2012
Bought this book at a booksale for less than a dollar. Good news is, it was a good bargain for a hardbound book, bad news is, it wasn't a very nice read.
The plot was promising, two agents on the verge of retiring find that they are each one's last target. But, it doesn't matter who gets killed first, since someone in the agency is keen on eliminating them both anyway.
I was ready to drop it after the first two chapters, but I felt I had to give it a chance. After all, some books start off badly, but end up being awesome. It wasn't the case for this one.
The plot was all over the place. Writing was dull, characters were two dimensional... sometimes, the author threw in hints of what he disliked in the spy genre.
Motivation of the antagonist was kinda lame too.
The book felt a little rushed, and I feel it had more room for development. A lot of things needed more explanation. I kinda felt relieved when I finally finished it.
Bottom-line, I think Wolstencroft is better as a screenwriter (I heard his TV series is award winning).
The plot was promising, two agents on the verge of retiring find that they are each one's last target. But, it doesn't matter who gets killed first, since someone in the agency is keen on eliminating them both anyway.
I was ready to drop it after the first two chapters, but I felt I had to give it a chance. After all, some books start off badly, but end up being awesome. It wasn't the case for this one.
The plot was all over the place. Writing was dull, characters were two dimensional... sometimes, the author threw in hints of what he disliked in the spy genre.
Motivation of the antagonist was kinda lame too.
The book felt a little rushed, and I feel it had more room for development. A lot of things needed more explanation. I kinda felt relieved when I finally finished it.
Bottom-line, I think Wolstencroft is better as a screenwriter (I heard his TV series is award winning).
February 16, 2010
Dull, dull book. Two main characters- Charlie and George- spend most of the novel in scenes together. The fact that the C and G of their names looks so similar drove me nuts- I kept getting them confused and in the end found it incredibly difficult to read.
April 25, 2010
RATING: 2.5
Did you ever engage in the word play of good news/bad news? "There's good news and bad news. The good news is blah blah blah." At which you rejoice. "The bad news is yuck yuck yuck." At which you cry. That's essentially the theme of this book, with every good thing that happens counterbalanced by a horribly bad thing.
Charlie Millar is 27 years old and is employed by the British Security Service as a spy. On his current assignment, he is working in a subway photo booth. Operatives turn in pictures and speak in code which directs Charlie to do certain things with the negatives. Working in the same booth is a middle-aged man by the name of George Shaw. As it turns out, George is also a spy. Through some bureaucratic snafu, they were both assigned to the same post, which was not supposed to happen. One day, they each receive a mission via a canister of film. In spy school, they learned that if the 13th frame of the film was blank, they would need to kill someone. The 14th frame would show to who the target was. Charlie's 14th frame shows George; George's 14th frame shows Charlie. To say the least, they are both confused about this turn of events. However, confusion turns to determination when they find that they are both targets of someone else.
Against all odds, they band together to get away from the threats that surround them. It's an interesting premise, as neither of them entirely trusts the other. Is George leading Charlie to a remote region where it will be easier to kill him? Is Charlie doing something that means that George is going to breathe no more? As time goes on, they find that they have a lot in common, and the tensions ease. They both want to leave the Service. Ultimately, they manage to evade their pursuers, only to find more challenges in their new environment.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS is the debut novel of David Wolstencroft who is the writer and creator of the BBC spy drama Spooks. That background has enabled him to craft an action-packed plot that has a lot of high drama as well as touches of humor. However, I had a few problems with the book, the first being the way that the opening chapters were narrated. They are told from Charlie's point of view and present him as an utter naïf, when clearly that is not the case. That section just didn't fit for me and should have acknowledged his occupation instead of depicting him as just an average guy who follows his co-worker out of curiosity.
I really enjoyed the main narrative section of the book and the dilemmas that Charlie and George faced both with their situation and in their relationship. Unfortunately, Wolstencroft went far afield in the conclusion of the book, and I felt cheated by how it resolved, relying on a cliché that's so bad that it should be outlawed. I wished that he had played it straight.
The good news is that Wolstencroft has the talent and imagination to write extremely well. The bad news is that he missed the mark in this book.
Did you ever engage in the word play of good news/bad news? "There's good news and bad news. The good news is blah blah blah." At which you rejoice. "The bad news is yuck yuck yuck." At which you cry. That's essentially the theme of this book, with every good thing that happens counterbalanced by a horribly bad thing.
Charlie Millar is 27 years old and is employed by the British Security Service as a spy. On his current assignment, he is working in a subway photo booth. Operatives turn in pictures and speak in code which directs Charlie to do certain things with the negatives. Working in the same booth is a middle-aged man by the name of George Shaw. As it turns out, George is also a spy. Through some bureaucratic snafu, they were both assigned to the same post, which was not supposed to happen. One day, they each receive a mission via a canister of film. In spy school, they learned that if the 13th frame of the film was blank, they would need to kill someone. The 14th frame would show to who the target was. Charlie's 14th frame shows George; George's 14th frame shows Charlie. To say the least, they are both confused about this turn of events. However, confusion turns to determination when they find that they are both targets of someone else.
Against all odds, they band together to get away from the threats that surround them. It's an interesting premise, as neither of them entirely trusts the other. Is George leading Charlie to a remote region where it will be easier to kill him? Is Charlie doing something that means that George is going to breathe no more? As time goes on, they find that they have a lot in common, and the tensions ease. They both want to leave the Service. Ultimately, they manage to evade their pursuers, only to find more challenges in their new environment.
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS is the debut novel of David Wolstencroft who is the writer and creator of the BBC spy drama Spooks. That background has enabled him to craft an action-packed plot that has a lot of high drama as well as touches of humor. However, I had a few problems with the book, the first being the way that the opening chapters were narrated. They are told from Charlie's point of view and present him as an utter naïf, when clearly that is not the case. That section just didn't fit for me and should have acknowledged his occupation instead of depicting him as just an average guy who follows his co-worker out of curiosity.
I really enjoyed the main narrative section of the book and the dilemmas that Charlie and George faced both with their situation and in their relationship. Unfortunately, Wolstencroft went far afield in the conclusion of the book, and I felt cheated by how it resolved, relying on a cliché that's so bad that it should be outlawed. I wished that he had played it straight.
The good news is that Wolstencroft has the talent and imagination to write extremely well. The bad news is that he missed the mark in this book.
December 18, 2012
Here's the plot in a nutshell...Charlie Millar and George Shaw worked together for one month barely saying a word to each other. At the end of that time, Charlie is suspicious of George's behavior and follows him. Of course, he sees him doing suspicious spy-type things and getting caught in the act, Charlie confronts George. Where they both reveal that they are spies working for the same side, hell, the same team. A few days later they each receive a missive to kill the other. Instead of killing each other, they decide to work together to evade the Service which is a great idea except that they do stupid things. You would think that hardened spies (5+ years in the game) would be better equipped to evade their handlers. Yet they seem very naive -
This entire book just seemed to be a bad episode of Keystone Cops. Charlie and George have a couple of brilliant ideas but they fail to implement them to the greatest degree. Neither of the main characters were developed and both seemed like cardboard cutouts rather than real people. The plot jumps all over the place and the ending was just ridiculously stupid.
The good news is that this is the first book I've read by this author. The bad news is that it is also the last.
This entire book just seemed to be a bad episode of Keystone Cops. Charlie and George have a couple of brilliant ideas but they fail to implement them to the greatest degree. Neither of the main characters were developed and both seemed like cardboard cutouts rather than real people. The plot jumps all over the place and the ending was just ridiculously stupid.
The good news is that this is the first book I've read by this author. The bad news is that it is also the last.
August 9, 2012
I feel somewhat bad for this book. I read it at a particularly busy time at work so I didn’t give it the full attention it deserved. If I had I would have perhaps enjoyed it a lot more.
Whilst the novel is predominantly written from Charlie’s perspective on events there are still many points in the story at which events are narrated by someone else. This would have been good had it flowed together, however it didn’t and it felt as though the novel was a bit disjointed, jumping from person to person leaving very little space for a point of fixed reference throughout.
Wolstencroft let the characters grow throughout the story and it meant that when you thought you’d finally got an angle on one of them something shifted and some more of their personality was revealed. This meant that through the characters the book had plenty of twists and turns and takes you to some unexpected places. It also makes you consider that perhaps the life of a spy isn’t so glamorous after all and that the truth is that you compromise yourself personally far more than you would in any ‘normal’ job.
Wolstencroft is a very talented and imaginative writer who is very successful in creating likeable and interesting characters. He shows that life as a spy isn’t all glamour and success; it’s lonely and isolating and can lead to unhappiness.
Whilst the novel is predominantly written from Charlie’s perspective on events there are still many points in the story at which events are narrated by someone else. This would have been good had it flowed together, however it didn’t and it felt as though the novel was a bit disjointed, jumping from person to person leaving very little space for a point of fixed reference throughout.
Wolstencroft let the characters grow throughout the story and it meant that when you thought you’d finally got an angle on one of them something shifted and some more of their personality was revealed. This meant that through the characters the book had plenty of twists and turns and takes you to some unexpected places. It also makes you consider that perhaps the life of a spy isn’t so glamorous after all and that the truth is that you compromise yourself personally far more than you would in any ‘normal’ job.
Wolstencroft is a very talented and imaginative writer who is very successful in creating likeable and interesting characters. He shows that life as a spy isn’t all glamour and success; it’s lonely and isolating and can lead to unhappiness.
November 13, 2013
Funnily enough I finished this book just after I had watched the third and final episode of a legal thriller written by the same author, but whereas that was clever, well written and fast paced; this is boring, dull and tediously slow. I was lured into this book by the author's CV but to quote a hero "I Won't Get Fooled Again", nuff said!
May 23, 2008
This I found hard to get through, plot seemed a bit silly and all over the place. Not for me
October 2, 2013
a spy story w/ British characters; I enjoyed it
January 1, 2018
Bad writing. And very heavily used plot - and it is killed and bludgeoned and ruined. Boring and overwritten. Also, did I mention, bad writing? ugh.
October 27, 2019
How the hell a book about spies can be so boring? I don't understand the reason why the service order to kill the spies...it makes no sense.
The continuation is "contact zero"...I won't read it.
The continuation is "contact zero"...I won't read it.
November 15, 2020
David Wollstencroft is best known for having created the successful BBC television series, Spooks. It is perhaps less well known that he had also previously been Alexander Armstrong’s original comedy act partner.
Before creating Spooks, he wrote two espionage novels, the first of which was Good News, Bad News. I am a huge fan of spy novels, and I think it is fair toi say that, whatever he might subsequently have achieved, this book is not a marvellous addition to the oeuvre.
To be fair, it does take a fresh perspective on the field, and features an amusing and engaging plotting device, although I feel I can’t say much more without straying into unwelcome potential spoiler territory. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the twist he uses is sufficient to sustain a novel of this length.
Before creating Spooks, he wrote two espionage novels, the first of which was Good News, Bad News. I am a huge fan of spy novels, and I think it is fair toi say that, whatever he might subsequently have achieved, this book is not a marvellous addition to the oeuvre.
To be fair, it does take a fresh perspective on the field, and features an amusing and engaging plotting device, although I feel I can’t say much more without straying into unwelcome potential spoiler territory. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the twist he uses is sufficient to sustain a novel of this length.
September 1, 2025
3 - 3 1/2 star. I'm catching up on my Richard and Judy Bo0k Club (UK) books and finally found this one from 2005. It was written by the man who produced the tv series "Spooks" so it was of interest to me as I enjoy spy novels. And this book had an interesting plot, two men are spies but are working in a photo shop as a day job and then they realize that they have both been ordered to kill each other. They don't know why but they decide instead to team up to try to find out why. It was kind of spy vs spy in a way and an intriguing premise and the first half of the book was very interesting. Somewhere in the second half, the wheels kind of fell off and it started getting a little outlandish. It was an okay read after that.
June 17, 2019
'Good News, Bad News' is a unique spy novel in that it never really lets on if the reader is supposed to take any of the goings-on seriously. The detached, surreal nature of the book mostly works in its favour, at times spectacularly. The story, that of a couple of chumps getting screwed by the agency they work for, is almost incidental. This effort is more of a showcase for Wolstencroft (debut novel) and his quirky, British style of writing. The humour, dark as pitch, is a highlight. As far as virgin efforts go, you can't get much better than GNBN.
May 19, 2021
Fun, twisty and Britishly sarcastic spy thriller by a writer for MI5. It starts out with 2 losers in a foto booth who think one of their regulars is actually a spy. Then the young one starts following his schlumpy partner and learns he's a spy, and then we find out Charlie is too. They barely have time to bond over this when they each receive a new assignment- to take out the other. But why? And what to do to keep them both alive while they figure it all out? How can it be funny and scary at the same time?
October 19, 2019
Enjoyable spy novel about two men stuck in dead-end jobs in a photo kiosk who find themselves in a deadly game of espionage. Good plotting, colorful characerizations, alternately funny and suspenseful.
June 7, 2017
Un sense of humour da sitcom. Due protagonisti che si sbattono senza costrutto.Un romanzo lento a fronte di uno stile compiaciuto.
March 10, 2019
Found it a struggle, wanted to like it but when reading a book becomes a chore like this was I had to leave it, to much backwards and forwards with times and characters.
January 14, 2021
Boring. Predictable. Full of bad cliches.
February 22, 2021
3.75/5
More turns than a jalebi, refuses to go where it's indicating it will go. Imagine getting into a horse cart, only to discover after the first few feet that the horses have wings, and could fly, then learning that the cart had a rocket strapped to it and flying faster still and then finding that the horses are long lost twins, and then crashing to the ground. This book isn't like this story in some crucial ways, but it kinda is.
More turns than a jalebi, refuses to go where it's indicating it will go. Imagine getting into a horse cart, only to discover after the first few feet that the horses have wings, and could fly, then learning that the cart had a rocket strapped to it and flying faster still and then finding that the horses are long lost twins, and then crashing to the ground. This book isn't like this story in some crucial ways, but it kinda is.
November 21, 2021
Not for me, Clive.
Struggled to get into it. I prefer countries vs countries rather than individual spies on their own mission.
Struggled to get into it. I prefer countries vs countries rather than individual spies on their own mission.
Read
April 21, 2022Bad news Bad news
June 19, 2022
Read in 2004. Spy thriller.
September 1, 2022
Easy holiday read. Plot was interesting if a little predictable. I won’t be rushing out to read a follow up.
December 24, 2023
It was good, but it was just missing that…”something”…I don’t know. It was a bit convoluted, but I guess that was part of the “spy game” stuff. I enjoyed it, I just didn’t love it.
December 18, 2024
This started out really interesting but then I lost interest about half way through.
January 20, 2025
Took a long time to get into the book but did enjoy the last half
Read
September 23, 2025V4 boekopdracht
February 14, 2019
Not impressed, to be quite frank. I don't particularly like the author's style of jumping about every where - he seems to have a problem with staying focused. That's my view, anyway. There were times I got slightly bored, at other times, slightly confused.
I didn't understand one of the chapters, it was so riveting I can't remember which. I ought to have gone back and read it again, but life's too short!
I think chapter 58 is the shortest chapter I've ever read in a book! 9 words!
The storyline itself was quite readable, it's just the way it was written. And I don't think I've ever read such a book with so many negative comments & descriptions...I don't think the author had a good thing to say about anything.
And finally, I've downgraded it to one star because of the atrocious foul language. I don't care how rough & ready the characters are, a truly good book doesn't need to drop to that level.
I didn't understand one of the chapters, it was so riveting I can't remember which. I ought to have gone back and read it again, but life's too short!
I think chapter 58 is the shortest chapter I've ever read in a book! 9 words!
The storyline itself was quite readable, it's just the way it was written. And I don't think I've ever read such a book with so many negative comments & descriptions...I don't think the author had a good thing to say about anything.
And finally, I've downgraded it to one star because of the atrocious foul language. I don't care how rough & ready the characters are, a truly good book doesn't need to drop to that level.
December 18, 2019
Partiamo con un bel rimbrotto alle case editrici, perchè non c'è niente che mi faccia più arrabbiare delle traduzioni "a capocchia" dei titoli originali dei libri, questo era "Good News, Bad News", che non ho capito come possa essere diventato con la traduzione italiana "Gli specialisti"; il titolo aveva una valenza particolare con la trama del libro, che ovviamente è andata persa con questa brillante traduzione.
Invece la storia è superba, un classico dello spionaggio come non avevo modo di leggere da tempo. Autore esordiente, sicuramente sconosciuto ai più che ha appena pubblicato un nuovo romanzo oltremanica, c'è da chiedersi quando e se potremo mai leggerlo in Italia.
L'idea di questo libro è meravigliosamente semplice ma anche assai complessa nello stesso tempo: "ci si può fidare di una spia?", questa domanda ci perseguiterà per tutto il libro tra uno stravolgimento di fronte continuo, un susseguirsi rapidissimo di eventi e azione pura. Si perchè nel mondo delle spie, giustamente, niente è come sembra. Le cose semplici non lo sono più, le persone di cui ti puoi fidare, all'improvviso sembrano cambiare bandiera; lo scoprirà suo malgrado Charlie, il personaggio principale di questa fantastica e congeniata trama, che da un innocente negozio di stampa foto sotto la metrò londinese, si troverà catapultato in una storia incredibile.
Veramente ben fatto e il colpo finale di scena è uno dei più belli che mi sia capitato di leggere da molto tempo a questa parte! Consigliatissimo a tutti gli amanti di spy-story!
Invece la storia è superba, un classico dello spionaggio come non avevo modo di leggere da tempo. Autore esordiente, sicuramente sconosciuto ai più che ha appena pubblicato un nuovo romanzo oltremanica, c'è da chiedersi quando e se potremo mai leggerlo in Italia.
L'idea di questo libro è meravigliosamente semplice ma anche assai complessa nello stesso tempo: "ci si può fidare di una spia?", questa domanda ci perseguiterà per tutto il libro tra uno stravolgimento di fronte continuo, un susseguirsi rapidissimo di eventi e azione pura. Si perchè nel mondo delle spie, giustamente, niente è come sembra. Le cose semplici non lo sono più, le persone di cui ti puoi fidare, all'improvviso sembrano cambiare bandiera; lo scoprirà suo malgrado Charlie, il personaggio principale di questa fantastica e congeniata trama, che da un innocente negozio di stampa foto sotto la metrò londinese, si troverà catapultato in una storia incredibile.
Veramente ben fatto e il colpo finale di scena è uno dei più belli che mi sia capitato di leggere da molto tempo a questa parte! Consigliatissimo a tutti gli amanti di spy-story!
August 1, 2008
Usually I don’t like thrillers too much –maybe it’s a question of understanding them- but this one was very interesting and couldn’t be put down, even at meals. Good news: Charlie and George, two spies in the British network, get involved in a strange operation and are ordered to kill a target. Bad news: each must kill the other. I’m used to the twist at the end of a mystery: you think A is the murderer and then BANG! It appears that any other BUT he is the culprit. But in this novel the twists are one per page, nothing is as it appears; the simple actions are doomed to be important stepping stones to thwart the destiny of the two spies. They try to be friends, to trust the other, but their job takes nothing for granted and the suspicions wreck their way into salvation. It’s a whirlwind of a book and I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews