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Café Assassin
Nick Smith has just spent the last twenty two years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Now he is looking for the man who put him in there. They were once best friends and whilst Nick was incarcerated Andrew did very well, very well indeed. Andrew is a QC and has it all. The big house, cars, a beautiful wife and family and Nick wants everything Andrew has. He wants it all and he will do anything to get it.
250 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 1, 2020
Genuinely one of the best books I have read in a while. A real page turner with lots of intrigue and a strong narrarive voice. Couldn't put it down!
May 1, 2020
A clever, well-paced story, bringing a Count of Monte Cristo-style plot to Yorkshire. The only let-down for me is that you aren't likely to really "like" any of the characters- but that is I think hard to avoid with their roles in the story, and they are well imagined
July 10, 2018
I am very impressed with Michael Stewart story telling he had me turning pages all night. I hope Michael Stewart is at his laptop writing another story because I want to read more from this brilliant author.
July 30, 2015
Loved the book and not at all what I had imagined,a real page turner. Revenge is a dish best served cold certainly applies to Nick here who is a most likeable character and had me rooting for him right from the start, happily recommend the book and give it 4 stars .
April 26, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Michael Stewart’s Ill Will and listening to The B Towns, one of his plays on Radio 4, so decided to check this out too. Not being a big fan of revenge thrillers or anything vaguely resembling ‘lad-lit’, I found this a very different and refreshing read. Having said that, there is a connection with Ill Will in the embittered anti-hero Nick Smith’s obsession with successful barrister Andrew, the childhood friend who betrays him and sends him to prison for 22 years. I did find that main narrative darkly compelling on the whole but the plot seemed to reach a peak with a major twisty climax almost too early and resolve itself a bit too easily.
Anyway, that didn’t matter too much because what I enjoyed most about the novel were the non-thriller elements. We see those best in the parts of the narrative that move backwards in time, the tales of damaged men and their sometimes violent, sometimes tender love for each other. (Forget the female characters – they turned out to be decoys….). Specifically, Nick’s love for Andrew, for prison cellmate Keyop and maybe even for Steve, his loutish boss – all, I think, desperate stand-ins for the father he felt he never really had. Stewart explores all this in episodes that are painfully funny, powerfully moving and at times bleak to the point of nihilism; Macbeth’s shadow lurks behind the stage curtains of this novel like a poor player for a mere hour, and then is heard no more….though we do hear a lot about Nick’s dagger. My favourite section of the novel – Nick’s memory of deliberately starting countryside fires with Andrew – captures the wild exhilaration of being a teenage fire-starter but is also intensely dark and full of near-spiritual despair. I found that section quite brilliant and wanted more of that Macbeth-like pushing at extremes.
Like Ill Will, this is a book with cross-over appeal: some pulpy sex’n’violence that would work well in a screen thriller but also high quality writing, ranging from the brutally graphic to the vividly poetic (Stewart has also written a poetry collection called Couples). To tell the truth, I probably enjoyed that even more than the story. In particular, he paints a stomach-churning picture of the grim realities of prison life and the disgusting after effects of drink and drugs, but always with a real relish that makes every episode entertaining to read. This is a novel full of sharp dialogue, black humour and devilish delight as Nick adds ever more tortuous twists to his imagined revenge. Nick’s revolting boss Steve is a knowingly stereotyped ‘white van man’ but also a sharply drawn, hilarious character, yet for humour even he is outclassed by the best characters of all: the dogs. Not being remotely a dog lover, I was surprised at how funny and interesting I found them, especially the way the writer cleverly uses them to make sly, satirical commentaries on the human characters. In fact, his language throughout shows a fascination with animals, our animal natures, and the way our corrupt justice system seems to turn men into beasts. If you’re not angry about that before you start this novel, you certainly will be by the end.
Another real pleasure of this novel is that it feels lived in, and is a real nostalgia fest; everything from authentic details of the '90s ‘Madchester’ nightclub scene to those rubbery pink shrimp sweets you could buy for 1p. Stewart seems to be most comfortable and convincing when looking at society from the bottom up and taking the side of the underdog, so it’s rather neat that his next novel apparently has dog heroes. Café Assassin is an earlier, less accomplished novel than Ill Will, but still a consistently entertaining read – and I didn’t find it at all slow as some reviewers did. A definite thumbs up.
Anyway, that didn’t matter too much because what I enjoyed most about the novel were the non-thriller elements. We see those best in the parts of the narrative that move backwards in time, the tales of damaged men and their sometimes violent, sometimes tender love for each other. (Forget the female characters – they turned out to be decoys….). Specifically, Nick’s love for Andrew, for prison cellmate Keyop and maybe even for Steve, his loutish boss – all, I think, desperate stand-ins for the father he felt he never really had. Stewart explores all this in episodes that are painfully funny, powerfully moving and at times bleak to the point of nihilism; Macbeth’s shadow lurks behind the stage curtains of this novel like a poor player for a mere hour, and then is heard no more….though we do hear a lot about Nick’s dagger. My favourite section of the novel – Nick’s memory of deliberately starting countryside fires with Andrew – captures the wild exhilaration of being a teenage fire-starter but is also intensely dark and full of near-spiritual despair. I found that section quite brilliant and wanted more of that Macbeth-like pushing at extremes.
Like Ill Will, this is a book with cross-over appeal: some pulpy sex’n’violence that would work well in a screen thriller but also high quality writing, ranging from the brutally graphic to the vividly poetic (Stewart has also written a poetry collection called Couples). To tell the truth, I probably enjoyed that even more than the story. In particular, he paints a stomach-churning picture of the grim realities of prison life and the disgusting after effects of drink and drugs, but always with a real relish that makes every episode entertaining to read. This is a novel full of sharp dialogue, black humour and devilish delight as Nick adds ever more tortuous twists to his imagined revenge. Nick’s revolting boss Steve is a knowingly stereotyped ‘white van man’ but also a sharply drawn, hilarious character, yet for humour even he is outclassed by the best characters of all: the dogs. Not being remotely a dog lover, I was surprised at how funny and interesting I found them, especially the way the writer cleverly uses them to make sly, satirical commentaries on the human characters. In fact, his language throughout shows a fascination with animals, our animal natures, and the way our corrupt justice system seems to turn men into beasts. If you’re not angry about that before you start this novel, you certainly will be by the end.
Another real pleasure of this novel is that it feels lived in, and is a real nostalgia fest; everything from authentic details of the '90s ‘Madchester’ nightclub scene to those rubbery pink shrimp sweets you could buy for 1p. Stewart seems to be most comfortable and convincing when looking at society from the bottom up and taking the side of the underdog, so it’s rather neat that his next novel apparently has dog heroes. Café Assassin is an earlier, less accomplished novel than Ill Will, but still a consistently entertaining read – and I didn’t find it at all slow as some reviewers did. A definite thumbs up.
September 1, 2020
A tale of slow-burning revenge! The best of friends, enjoying the best of youthful high living and self-indulgence, separated by a twenty year secret of guilt, injustice and self-preservation. But the day of reckoning draws near.
A plot with plenty of unexpected twists that will keep you gripped! Very evocative of 1990s Manchester.
A plot with plenty of unexpected twists that will keep you gripped! Very evocative of 1990s Manchester.
August 1, 2025
Was waiting for something to happen...very drawn out!
In summary,
Nick goes to jail for a crime Andrew committed 22 years ago. Nick was Andrews wife, home and life. Nick gets out of prison and gets enough evidence to put Andrew behind bars. Nick gets the life Andrew had.
Da daaaaah
In summary,
Nick goes to jail for a crime Andrew committed 22 years ago. Nick was Andrews wife, home and life. Nick gets out of prison and gets enough evidence to put Andrew behind bars. Nick gets the life Andrew had.
Da daaaaah
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 11, 2021
This gripped me and read it in a couple of sittings. A superb revenge tale.
June 3, 2022
A gritty page turner with a strong narrative voice.
January 12, 2024
I’m so undecided on this book, it’s been sat on my shelf to read for years. I finally took the plunge and I enjoyed it, but also felt it could have made more sense and been better.
April 1, 2021
Well written book about crime and revenge. Straight forward plot line but with interesting twist at the end. Interesting that it was set in west Yorks.
January 12, 2021
This has to be The book of 2020 for me. Fantastic read!!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews