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Jack Parlabane #1
Quite Ugly One Morning
Quite Ugly One Morning is the book that made Christopher Brookmyre a star in his native Britain, establishing his distinctive, scabrously humorous style and breakneck, hell-for-leather narrative pacing. The novel that won the inaugural First Blood Award for the best debut crime novel in the United Kingdom is now available in America for the first time, and comic crime writing on this side of the Atlantic may never be the same.
Quite Ugly One Morning introduces Brookmyre's signature protagonist, the hard-partying, wisecracking investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, who is not afraid to bend the laws of the land (or even the laws of gravity) to get to the truth. Parlabane is nursing a horrific hangover when he stumbles across the corpse of the scion of a wealthy Edinburgh medical family. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder himself, he quickly becomes enmeshed in a wild adventure that will take him through all the strata of Edinburgh society and into some dangerous (and hysterical) situations.
Laced with acerbic wit and crackling dialogue, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller.
Quite Ugly One Morning introduces Brookmyre's signature protagonist, the hard-partying, wisecracking investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, who is not afraid to bend the laws of the land (or even the laws of gravity) to get to the truth. Parlabane is nursing a horrific hangover when he stumbles across the corpse of the scion of a wealthy Edinburgh medical family. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder himself, he quickly becomes enmeshed in a wild adventure that will take him through all the strata of Edinburgh society and into some dangerous (and hysterical) situations.
Laced with acerbic wit and crackling dialogue, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
414 people are currently reading
9513 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Brookmyre
40 books1,540 followersChristopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels mix politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning, and subsequent works have included One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, which he said "was just the sort of book he needed to write before he turned 30", and All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005). Brookmyre also writes historical fiction with Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym "Ambrose Parry."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 577 reviews
April 26, 2024
Christopher Brookmyre was repeatedly mentioned by Caimh McDonnell as one of his favorite writers. Since Caimh is my favorite author of Irish humorous crime fiction, I had no excuse not to try his Scottish counterpart. I should not have worried, this novel was pure fun.
Jack Parlabane is an extremely nosy investigation journalist with a side hobby of breaking and entering. He is very good at his job (and hobby) which landed him in a bit of pickle. While in hiding and hangover, he accidentally finds himself at the scene of a gruesome crime. Found by the police, he shortly outsmarts them and starts his own investigation, ignoring better judgement or self-preservation instincts. He gets deeper and deeper into trouble but he has the brains and humor to pull it off.
This book is not for the squeamish, as bodily fluids (and solids) are flowing in abundance in this novel. Not to be consumed immediately after a meal.
Jack Parlabane is an extremely nosy investigation journalist with a side hobby of breaking and entering. He is very good at his job (and hobby) which landed him in a bit of pickle. While in hiding and hangover, he accidentally finds himself at the scene of a gruesome crime. Found by the police, he shortly outsmarts them and starts his own investigation, ignoring better judgement or self-preservation instincts. He gets deeper and deeper into trouble but he has the brains and humor to pull it off.
This book is not for the squeamish, as bodily fluids (and solids) are flowing in abundance in this novel. Not to be consumed immediately after a meal.
April 22, 2025
NO, NON È VERO
Come da prevedere, anche in questo caso al romanzo è seguito il film. Per la TV. James Nesbitt interpreta Jack Parlabane.
L’attacco è subito su una nota conosciuta e già incontrata: una descrizione di vomito, sangue, merda, lacerazioni, violenza brutale e splatter – con quell’iperbole dell’enorme stronzo defecato in equilibrio sulla mensola del caminetto – condotta in termini umoristici, e, quindi, con effetto di black humour. Come dicevo, nulla di nuovo.
Perché col nuovo e l’aria fresca bisogna misurarsi visto che Brookmyre è presentato come una ventata d’aria fresca, una specie di rivoluzione nel giallo crime.
Per esempio, solo per restare nell’ambito dei suoi conterranei scozzesi, un inizio come descritto sopra io l’ho già incontrato leggendo Iain Rankin e William McIlvanney. E pur non avendolo mai letto, immagino che Irvine Welsh abbia mischiato queste note da Trainspotting in su.
Anche i personaggi non urlano novità, a cominciare da quello che sembra essere il protagonista, Jack Parlabane, semifallito cronista di nera, ubriacone fascinoso, capace di rimboccarsi le maniche e applicarsi con talento quando serve, altrimenti preferisce oziare bevendo.
Particolarmente cliché – qui protratto oltre la mia sopportazione – il vizio/vezzo di introdurre personaggi nuovi alla partenza di ogni capitolo, descrivendoli e moltiplicandoli, per poi farli incrociare e incontrare molto avanti nella storia. E l’occasione per l’incrocio/incontro non è né geniale né innovativa, piuttosto scontata.
E quindi, forse per l’esagerata qualità di novità troppo strombazzata per i miei gusti, e purtroppo non riscontrata, Brookmyre guadagna non più di due stelline. Spiacente.
“No, non è vero” è una canzone dell’intramontabile Luigi Tenco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejcTI...
Come da prevedere, anche in questo caso al romanzo è seguito il film. Per la TV. James Nesbitt interpreta Jack Parlabane.
L’attacco è subito su una nota conosciuta e già incontrata: una descrizione di vomito, sangue, merda, lacerazioni, violenza brutale e splatter – con quell’iperbole dell’enorme stronzo defecato in equilibrio sulla mensola del caminetto – condotta in termini umoristici, e, quindi, con effetto di black humour. Come dicevo, nulla di nuovo.
Perché col nuovo e l’aria fresca bisogna misurarsi visto che Brookmyre è presentato come una ventata d’aria fresca, una specie di rivoluzione nel giallo crime.
Per esempio, solo per restare nell’ambito dei suoi conterranei scozzesi, un inizio come descritto sopra io l’ho già incontrato leggendo Iain Rankin e William McIlvanney. E pur non avendolo mai letto, immagino che Irvine Welsh abbia mischiato queste note da Trainspotting in su.
Anche i personaggi non urlano novità, a cominciare da quello che sembra essere il protagonista, Jack Parlabane, semifallito cronista di nera, ubriacone fascinoso, capace di rimboccarsi le maniche e applicarsi con talento quando serve, altrimenti preferisce oziare bevendo.
Particolarmente cliché – qui protratto oltre la mia sopportazione – il vizio/vezzo di introdurre personaggi nuovi alla partenza di ogni capitolo, descrivendoli e moltiplicandoli, per poi farli incrociare e incontrare molto avanti nella storia. E l’occasione per l’incrocio/incontro non è né geniale né innovativa, piuttosto scontata.
E quindi, forse per l’esagerata qualità di novità troppo strombazzata per i miei gusti, e purtroppo non riscontrata, Brookmyre guadagna non più di due stelline. Spiacente.
“No, non è vero” è una canzone dell’intramontabile Luigi Tenco.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejcTI...
May 11, 2024
If I had to describe my staple reading diet, it would be contemporary American fiction, particularly American crime fiction. I don't often read British authors, though I have made some exceptions; I read to escape not to be reminded of the daily grind. There are two Scottish writers I do really like, though (Ian Rankin and Iain Banks), and for some while, friends have been nagging me to give Brookmyre a go. I finally succumbed.
I knew this would be funny and clever - it's both - and I guessed it would be somewhat political, which it also is. The story is wacky but not wildly so. The plot rocks along at a steady pace, and I laughed quite a bit (particularly at the beginning and towards the end).
I found I'd devoured the whole thing in no time. It didn't make me want to rush out and grab the next one... not yet. But I will read another and will probably dip back into Brookmyre's work whenever I'm in the mood for some lighthearted fun.
I knew this would be funny and clever - it's both - and I guessed it would be somewhat political, which it also is. The story is wacky but not wildly so. The plot rocks along at a steady pace, and I laughed quite a bit (particularly at the beginning and towards the end).
I found I'd devoured the whole thing in no time. It didn't make me want to rush out and grab the next one... not yet. But I will read another and will probably dip back into Brookmyre's work whenever I'm in the mood for some lighthearted fun.
January 17, 2019
This was an interesting take on the murder of a doctor. Jack Parlabane is a journalist who uses his cat-burglar talents to investigate crimes. The long-suffering police are involved, but they are not the focus of the book. The author has a sense of humor and a snarky attitude that shines through a plethora of bodily fluids. There are many references to people and things that I didn’t always understand, but I did enjoy the book. Will continue with this series at some point to see if the author matures.
April 26, 2016
Quite Ugly One Morning is definitely Quite Fantastic An Experience. What a book! After I read this book, I was left completely stranded and was not able to choose which book to pick up next for a whole 8 hours and I am still struggling. It’s just like the lingering after taste of a rich and heavy wine.
Where do I start? If I have to talk about the plot, I can write volumes. If I have to talk about the treatment, it will be never ending and if I have to talk about the protagonist, I may not ever stop. Jack Parlabane, the hero of Quite Ugly One Morning is simply a clutter-breaking character. He is all brains, all snoop, all tracker of truth. If there is something to be uncovered, he WILL find it. Add to that a raunchy lip smacking attitude. There is something about Parlabane that throws all alarm bells screaming danger and YET one gets drawn towards him. He is what a journalist should be, Non-conformist and a true seeker of the truth. I was introduced to this book by a lady friend who generally eats men for breakfast and was told I am the second guy she really likes, with Jack Parlabane holding the No 1 spot. I couldn’t have agreed with her more after I finished the book. I don’t mind relinquishing the No 1 spot to Jack Parlabane.
For thriller lovers, this is an ABSOLUTE must. You simply cannot miss this one. It’s got a great plot, great narration, great pace and a great environment. But the entire thing is carried on the lithe shoulders of Jack Parlabane. Mr. Brookmyre deserves the award which he has clinched for this book, every bit of it.
If you haven’t read this book, stop whatever you are doing and go pick it up. And fasten your seat belts too, you will be experiencing turbulence. CAUTION - Try NOT TO FORGET that you have to go to work. This book is capable of getting you fired!!
Where do I start? If I have to talk about the plot, I can write volumes. If I have to talk about the treatment, it will be never ending and if I have to talk about the protagonist, I may not ever stop. Jack Parlabane, the hero of Quite Ugly One Morning is simply a clutter-breaking character. He is all brains, all snoop, all tracker of truth. If there is something to be uncovered, he WILL find it. Add to that a raunchy lip smacking attitude. There is something about Parlabane that throws all alarm bells screaming danger and YET one gets drawn towards him. He is what a journalist should be, Non-conformist and a true seeker of the truth. I was introduced to this book by a lady friend who generally eats men for breakfast and was told I am the second guy she really likes, with Jack Parlabane holding the No 1 spot. I couldn’t have agreed with her more after I finished the book. I don’t mind relinquishing the No 1 spot to Jack Parlabane.
For thriller lovers, this is an ABSOLUTE must. You simply cannot miss this one. It’s got a great plot, great narration, great pace and a great environment. But the entire thing is carried on the lithe shoulders of Jack Parlabane. Mr. Brookmyre deserves the award which he has clinched for this book, every bit of it.
If you haven’t read this book, stop whatever you are doing and go pick it up. And fasten your seat belts too, you will be experiencing turbulence. CAUTION - Try NOT TO FORGET that you have to go to work. This book is capable of getting you fired!!
December 14, 2023
‘Quite Ugly One Morning’ by Christopher Brookmyre is an unexpectedly good book, one of an 8-book mystery series for me that I didn’t know existed! I have never heard of the author’s main character or this series, the intrepid investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, before. I hope to continue with the series.
Parlabane is not a shining example of being Good, though. He drinks a lot, and breaks into buildings and computer systems surreptitiously in order to investigate bad guys. He pushes buttons. Forthright and upstanding he is not. However, it is all about chasing down corporate and political misbehaviors that hurt regular folks, most without any ‘juice’ or knowledge about how they’ve been screwed to fight back.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Quite Ugly One Morning is the book that made Christopher Brookmyre a star in his native Britain, establishing his distinctive, scabrously humorous style and breakneck, hell-for-leather narrative pacing. The novel that won the inaugural First Blood Award for the best debut crime novel in the United Kingdom is now available in America for the first time, and comic crime writing on this side of the Atlantic may never be the same.
Quite Ugly One Morning introduces Brookmyre's signature protagonist, the hard-partying, wisecracking investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, who is not afraid to bend the laws of the land (or even the laws of gravity) to get to the truth. Parlabane is nursing a horrific hangover when he stumbles across the corpse of the scion of a wealthy Edinburgh medical family. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder himself, he quickly becomes enmeshed in a wild adventure that will take him through all the strata of Edinburgh society and into some dangerous (and hysterical) situations.
Laced with acerbic wit and crackling dialogue, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller.”
One of the characters in the novel has a lot of sideways graphically violent stuff happen to him that had me ROTF! Plus, there are some, I assume, Scottish, or British (?) slang terms that caused me huge belly laughs despite that I realized I shouldn’t have been amused because of the obvious disrespectful tone of the slang. I guess I love satire and amusing wit more than maintaining a sense of refined sensitivity.
The story involves a private hospital that is losing money because of elderly people who need 24/7 care taking up bed space for months, if not years, because they are too sick to go to somewhere else. The author has the ‘hero’ characters speak more frankly than American readers may be ready for:
””Crumbles never die. I told you that.They last forever, unturfable, permanent fixtures. Now and again, one of them is bound to cack it eventually.””
””These weren’t lovable old grannies, either. George Romero’s [the hospital] full of the living dead, remember? Bewildered shells, bereft of all the things that usually let us identify with another human being. The only distinguishing characteristic of each one would be their phrase, their shriek. “Take me out, take me out, take me out!” “Come down from there, come down from there, come down from there.” “Ming-a-dring, ming-a-dring, ming-a-dring” Most of the language is gone, just some fragment somehow remaining, and that’s what they’ll scream when they’re scared or need some attention, what they’ll shout when they’re angry or when they’re happy, and what they’ll just mutter for no apparent reason at all.””
“Relatives - if they have any - seldom or never visit. Christ, who’s going to come in for that? “How’s it going, Uncle Bill?” “Ming-a-dring.” “Nice day for it, eh?” “Ming-a-dring.” “I see Hearts won on Saturday.” “Ming-a-dring.” Seeing the person they once knew reduced to a living corpse that doesn’t even know they’re there, and may not even know he or she’s there - who wants to put themselves through that?”
Although the above is totally truth, it is not often one sees what might be thoughts one keeps to oneself said out loud, right? Nonetheless, I admit I was not politically correct in my amusement in reading this, and other bits in the book, some of which had me guffawing. However, I may be misleading you, gentle reader, in thinking this novel a satire. It is more of murder mystery with humorous overtones, and the subject matter is involving serious current events.
When I was young, I can remember speaking in silly disrespectful terminology about serious things that mattered to me to my closest friends. This novel brought a lot of that back to my mind, which is probably why I laughed when I should have been full of disapproval. Well. Now you know who I am, gentler reader. I plan on using the slang “crumbles” and “cacked it” at some point when I can. I live in a senior park, after all….
Parlabane is not a shining example of being Good, though. He drinks a lot, and breaks into buildings and computer systems surreptitiously in order to investigate bad guys. He pushes buttons. Forthright and upstanding he is not. However, it is all about chasing down corporate and political misbehaviors that hurt regular folks, most without any ‘juice’ or knowledge about how they’ve been screwed to fight back.
I have copied the book blurb:
”Quite Ugly One Morning is the book that made Christopher Brookmyre a star in his native Britain, establishing his distinctive, scabrously humorous style and breakneck, hell-for-leather narrative pacing. The novel that won the inaugural First Blood Award for the best debut crime novel in the United Kingdom is now available in America for the first time, and comic crime writing on this side of the Atlantic may never be the same.
Quite Ugly One Morning introduces Brookmyre's signature protagonist, the hard-partying, wisecracking investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, who is not afraid to bend the laws of the land (or even the laws of gravity) to get to the truth. Parlabane is nursing a horrific hangover when he stumbles across the corpse of the scion of a wealthy Edinburgh medical family. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder himself, he quickly becomes enmeshed in a wild adventure that will take him through all the strata of Edinburgh society and into some dangerous (and hysterical) situations.
Laced with acerbic wit and crackling dialogue, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller.”
One of the characters in the novel has a lot of sideways graphically violent stuff happen to him that had me ROTF! Plus, there are some, I assume, Scottish, or British (?) slang terms that caused me huge belly laughs despite that I realized I shouldn’t have been amused because of the obvious disrespectful tone of the slang. I guess I love satire and amusing wit more than maintaining a sense of refined sensitivity.
The story involves a private hospital that is losing money because of elderly people who need 24/7 care taking up bed space for months, if not years, because they are too sick to go to somewhere else. The author has the ‘hero’ characters speak more frankly than American readers may be ready for:
””Crumbles never die. I told you that.They last forever, unturfable, permanent fixtures. Now and again, one of them is bound to cack it eventually.””
””These weren’t lovable old grannies, either. George Romero’s [the hospital] full of the living dead, remember? Bewildered shells, bereft of all the things that usually let us identify with another human being. The only distinguishing characteristic of each one would be their phrase, their shriek. “Take me out, take me out, take me out!” “Come down from there, come down from there, come down from there.” “Ming-a-dring, ming-a-dring, ming-a-dring” Most of the language is gone, just some fragment somehow remaining, and that’s what they’ll scream when they’re scared or need some attention, what they’ll shout when they’re angry or when they’re happy, and what they’ll just mutter for no apparent reason at all.””
“Relatives - if they have any - seldom or never visit. Christ, who’s going to come in for that? “How’s it going, Uncle Bill?” “Ming-a-dring.” “Nice day for it, eh?” “Ming-a-dring.” “I see Hearts won on Saturday.” “Ming-a-dring.” Seeing the person they once knew reduced to a living corpse that doesn’t even know they’re there, and may not even know he or she’s there - who wants to put themselves through that?”
Although the above is totally truth, it is not often one sees what might be thoughts one keeps to oneself said out loud, right? Nonetheless, I admit I was not politically correct in my amusement in reading this, and other bits in the book, some of which had me guffawing. However, I may be misleading you, gentle reader, in thinking this novel a satire. It is more of murder mystery with humorous overtones, and the subject matter is involving serious current events.
When I was young, I can remember speaking in silly disrespectful terminology about serious things that mattered to me to my closest friends. This novel brought a lot of that back to my mind, which is probably why I laughed when I should have been full of disapproval. Well. Now you know who I am, gentler reader. I plan on using the slang “crumbles” and “cacked it” at some point when I can. I live in a senior park, after all….
May 19, 2018
Jack Parlabane is an investigative reporter, who is a master cat burglar but only steals what he needs for his stories. When a famous doctor is viciously murdered in Edinburgh, he can't stay uninvolved. Turns out that the doctor has a gambling problem, but that doesn't seem to be the motive for the crime. In fact, the motive itself was well-cloaked. Funny at times, and with some reasonable insight into the horrors of doctors becoming certified, the book was not that great. I don't think I've ever read a book with more vomit either.
July 22, 2019
A great debut and it actually have loads of Brookmyre’s trademarks fully formed; gory and absurd situations, heaps of dark humour and really good characters. The short book had a surprisingly slow moving part at around 3/4 or so, but I didn’t mind so much, the writing is good.
The first time we meet Jack Parlabane, he’s just returned to his native Glasgow from California where his investigative journalism has dug him in a bit far. Hung over, confused and in his Jockeys, he literally stumbles upon his neighbors mutilated corpse, oh and a number of police that already have started investigated what the poor sod may have done to deserve this. Parlabane thinks something is off and that it was really supposed to be a quiet affair.
The first time we meet Jack Parlabane, he’s just returned to his native Glasgow from California where his investigative journalism has dug him in a bit far. Hung over, confused and in his Jockeys, he literally stumbles upon his neighbors mutilated corpse, oh and a number of police that already have started investigated what the poor sod may have done to deserve this. Parlabane thinks something is off and that it was really supposed to be a quiet affair.
May 16, 2023
If you're looking for a crime novel that will make you laugh out loud and squirm in disgust, you might want to check out Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre.
Firstly I need to say that this book had not even been on my radar, I was sent it through the post by my Fater so I felt that I had to at least give it a try. It turned out to be a breath of fresh air and exactly what I need at that moment.
It's a hilarious and gruesome story that combines the elements of a classic British whodunit with the gritty style of Trainspotting. The protagonist is a cynical journalist who wakes up one morning to find a mutilated body in his bathroom and gets dragged into a complex and dangerous conspiracy. The novel is full of witty dialogue, surprising plot twists, and memorable characters. It's not a book for the faint-hearted, though, as it contains a lot of graphic violence, profanity, and satire. The novel also has some weak points, such as some implausible reasoning and some exaggerated writing, but they didn't ruin my enjoyment.
If you're in the mood for a funny and dark thriller, you might want to give this book a chance.
Firstly I need to say that this book had not even been on my radar, I was sent it through the post by my Fater so I felt that I had to at least give it a try. It turned out to be a breath of fresh air and exactly what I need at that moment.
It's a hilarious and gruesome story that combines the elements of a classic British whodunit with the gritty style of Trainspotting. The protagonist is a cynical journalist who wakes up one morning to find a mutilated body in his bathroom and gets dragged into a complex and dangerous conspiracy. The novel is full of witty dialogue, surprising plot twists, and memorable characters. It's not a book for the faint-hearted, though, as it contains a lot of graphic violence, profanity, and satire. The novel also has some weak points, such as some implausible reasoning and some exaggerated writing, but they didn't ruin my enjoyment.
If you're in the mood for a funny and dark thriller, you might want to give this book a chance.
June 16, 2013
Well, hell. Who'd think you might find a hardboiled mystery set in Scotland? I mean, I visited Scotland once, long ago, and it struck me as quite a sleepy place where nothing much could happen beyond sheep blocking a roadway. That's not the Scotland of Christopher Brookmyre's most excellent "Quite Ugly One Morning."
Now then, don't read any further if you aren't a fan of novels with explicit language and, well . . . let's just say "vivid" scenes. Of course, given the heavy Scottish tone, you might not recognize a lot of the explicit language as anything potentially offensive. Then again, sure; you would. Context is everything, and this book has it all: bad guys who don't always look like bad guys (even if they seem like idiots); high stakes in the medical profession; a very unusual journalist whose main object is to sniff out stories that even the tabloids would love. Hey, this fella? This Jack Parlabane? He's gotta get by somehow, right? And he's very good at what he does. So are the women he unwittingly engages to help him here and there.
It's all so straightforward, and yet the novel raises the bar for the standard fare I've been accustomed to. And even if it does have, oh, the occasional dollop of violence, it's balanced quite nicely with some laugh-out-loud moments somehow connected to those scenes.
My, my. What a great find. What a wonderful, engaging read. Cozy readers? Don't bother. Mystery lovers? What are you waiting for? Pick it up now.
Now then, don't read any further if you aren't a fan of novels with explicit language and, well . . . let's just say "vivid" scenes. Of course, given the heavy Scottish tone, you might not recognize a lot of the explicit language as anything potentially offensive. Then again, sure; you would. Context is everything, and this book has it all: bad guys who don't always look like bad guys (even if they seem like idiots); high stakes in the medical profession; a very unusual journalist whose main object is to sniff out stories that even the tabloids would love. Hey, this fella? This Jack Parlabane? He's gotta get by somehow, right? And he's very good at what he does. So are the women he unwittingly engages to help him here and there.
It's all so straightforward, and yet the novel raises the bar for the standard fare I've been accustomed to. And even if it does have, oh, the occasional dollop of violence, it's balanced quite nicely with some laugh-out-loud moments somehow connected to those scenes.
My, my. What a great find. What a wonderful, engaging read. Cozy readers? Don't bother. Mystery lovers? What are you waiting for? Pick it up now.
June 23, 2014
Two-thirds of the way through the first chapter of QUOM, the detectives at the newly discovered, extremely messy crime scene, discover that not only has the murderer been as brutal and sadistic as he appears to have possibly been able to manage, but he has also done a sizable shit on the mantelpiece. And lo, the tone is set. A very few chapters later, Christopher Brookmyre tells you whodunnit, and the rest of the book involves a lot of charging about while the good guys explain to each other how their deducings are getting on, and the bad guys get increasingly worried about their progress.
I'm sure that would be a turn-off for a lot of readers, but I have an extremely lassez-faire attitude to spoilers. I like watching people work things out - I even quite like Info-Dump By Dialogue, okay? sue me - and I like a good detective story where I know the outcome already. It's fun watching other people get there. The style of story suited me very much.
Ornamental coprolite not so much. You win some, you lose some.
This book is not subtle. I've read other Brookmyre and having done so I can tell this is his first novel - he's gearing up. He gets better. But just because something isn't subtle doesn't mean it's not good, or clever. If I'm sporting a massive purple bruise above my eye, it's from being beaten about the skull with his political message - but that's okay, I had fun with it. I cheered half the cast; I booed the other half. I liked who I was meant to like and didn't like the ones I wasn't. QUOM is set in my city, too, and it was nice to rampage around a bit.
A bit more delicacy next time, Christopher, and a few more dimensions to your core team, and we might be talking about bumping up a star. Also you have to promise me to go around with the disinfectant before you invite me in.
I'm sure that would be a turn-off for a lot of readers, but I have an extremely lassez-faire attitude to spoilers. I like watching people work things out - I even quite like Info-Dump By Dialogue, okay? sue me - and I like a good detective story where I know the outcome already. It's fun watching other people get there. The style of story suited me very much.
Ornamental coprolite not so much. You win some, you lose some.
This book is not subtle. I've read other Brookmyre and having done so I can tell this is his first novel - he's gearing up. He gets better. But just because something isn't subtle doesn't mean it's not good, or clever. If I'm sporting a massive purple bruise above my eye, it's from being beaten about the skull with his political message - but that's okay, I had fun with it. I cheered half the cast; I booed the other half. I liked who I was meant to like and didn't like the ones I wasn't. QUOM is set in my city, too, and it was nice to rampage around a bit.
A bit more delicacy next time, Christopher, and a few more dimensions to your core team, and we might be talking about bumping up a star. Also you have to promise me to go around with the disinfectant before you invite me in.
August 26, 2014
Okay, this is gonna be a short review. Christopher Brookmyre and I clearly do not share the same sense of humour, or the same concept of what ‘good writing’ is. Good writing doesn’t come across as immature, doesn’t try to be funny, doesn’t dwell on cheap, scatological humour, humour attempting to appeal to the broadest, dumbest demographic possible. Good writing is hard to describe, it’s almost like a rapist, grabbing you by the throat and forcing it’s emotions on you. Wow, what a metaphor… one that’d fit nicely in the turd that is Quite Ugly One Morning. Calling this book a turd is appropriate, because at one point Mr Brookmyre vividly describes in what I assume is meant to be a raunchy, transgressive passage, a big ol’ turd.
Honestly, this read like a dweeb fourteen-year-old wrote it. And not even a funny dweeb fourteen-year-old. I’m not the most highbrow reader out there, but this is just embarrassing. Even more so due to the fact this book somehow won a Booker award? I sure picked a great, totally objective career to get into.
Honestly, this read like a dweeb fourteen-year-old wrote it. And not even a funny dweeb fourteen-year-old. I’m not the most highbrow reader out there, but this is just embarrassing. Even more so due to the fact this book somehow won a Booker award? I sure picked a great, totally objective career to get into.
October 11, 2016
Enter Jack Parlabane: Investigative journalist from Glasgow, who went to L.A for a job, and came home running after someone put a hit on him.
Enter the assassin who killed a Dr in an interesting fashion...
Enter Dr Sarah Slaughter; the ex-wife of the victim
Enter Dr. Stephen Lime; the victim's boss.
An easy ready and sort of easy to deduct the killer, as Christopher Brookmyre doesn't worry about the whodunit part, as the why the crime took place and he tries to build a background of the characters.
The black humor in this book is so good, so on the point and if you read and giggle and perhaps laugh at some parts... it is very normal and i do encourage that.
Some people may find this book off putting for a first book in a series, as the author didn't create the best crime or suspects ever, but his writing style and satire balances it all for a solid 3.5 star and enough curiosity to read the second book in the series.
Enter the assassin who killed a Dr in an interesting fashion...
Enter Dr Sarah Slaughter; the ex-wife of the victim
Enter Dr. Stephen Lime; the victim's boss.
An easy ready and sort of easy to deduct the killer, as Christopher Brookmyre doesn't worry about the whodunit part, as the why the crime took place and he tries to build a background of the characters.
The black humor in this book is so good, so on the point and if you read and giggle and perhaps laugh at some parts... it is very normal and i do encourage that.
Some people may find this book off putting for a first book in a series, as the author didn't create the best crime or suspects ever, but his writing style and satire balances it all for a solid 3.5 star and enough curiosity to read the second book in the series.
December 8, 2007
This is the first of the Jack Parlabane novels - a short journalist with a habit for getting himself seriously into trouble often involving him carrying on like a burglar.
This was made into a television show a couple of years ago and they really made a mess of it. Hard to imagine, as his stuff really is crying out to be made into films.
Parlabane has returned suddenly to Scotland only to wake the next morning to the smell of various human wastes in his flat. Going off to investigate the smell, which his is not totally sure if he was not responsible for, lands him in the middle of a murder scene in his underwear.
This is not the best of the Parlabane's, but you need to read this one first as much happens here that you need to know later. The next one, The Country of the Blind, is probably the best, but read this one first - it is no hardship.
This was made into a television show a couple of years ago and they really made a mess of it. Hard to imagine, as his stuff really is crying out to be made into films.
Parlabane has returned suddenly to Scotland only to wake the next morning to the smell of various human wastes in his flat. Going off to investigate the smell, which his is not totally sure if he was not responsible for, lands him in the middle of a murder scene in his underwear.
This is not the best of the Parlabane's, but you need to read this one first as much happens here that you need to know later. The next one, The Country of the Blind, is probably the best, but read this one first - it is no hardship.
December 2, 2017
While our default view of British detective stories tends to focus south of the Tweed, it's well worth remembering that Scotland is (at least nominally) part of the United Kingdom and has its own share of sick puppies to track down. One of them writes berserk crime novels -- Tartan Noir in Braveheart mode -- and this book made Christopher Brookmyre's name in the U.K.
Jeremy Ponsonby, scion of a well-established Edinburgh medical family, is found in poor condition -- messily dead in a wrecked apartment -- sparking off a shambolic police investigation. Ponsonby's upstairs neighbor, gonzo journalist and series lead Jack Parlabane, happens to wander into both the apartment (alcohol is involved) and the investigation. Naturally, he launches his own inquiry. The action and POV pinballs between Parlabane, the victim's ex-wife, two of the police, a Thatcherite swine, and a large and accident-prone thug as it uncovers bad behavior in all its forms and in all quarters.
Settings are sketched economically unless the author deliberately goes over the top for comic effect; the initial crime scene, for instance, layers the bad over the worse until it's both hilarious and cringe-inducing. The crime and all its sequelae start out suitably opaque and slowly come into focus as the police and Parlabane dig up or stumble over various leads. You'll get a general idea of who did what to whom early on, but the "why" takes a while and a few detours until all is revealed. But the plot isn't the real reason to read this or any of the author's other works; it's the dialog and attitude, all of which is spot on, raunchy, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny in a really dark, twisted way.
It's likely no coincidence that Brookmyre was a member of the Fourth Estate before he began writing about the imaginary people in his wee haid. He's said that Parlabane is his "wish fulfillment" character. Jack lives hard and suffers from it; he's been chased out of both London and Los Angeles by threats to his continued existence. When he does manage to stay sober, he's observant, persistent, obstinate, limitlessly irreverent, and a sucker for stories that allow him to cut down the tall poppies.
This could get exhausting but for the author's other kink: his POV jumps between characters, and he nails their individual voices while he makes them into at least real-ish people. Unusually for a male author, the female characters read as lasses rather than blokes in bras. Even when the characters are lunatics or cretins, they're mostly not entirely cartoons.
As in the other Brookmyre novels I've read, the author has a larger grievance that the story exposes. Here it's the National Health Service, specifically the NHS Trusts (a Blairite wheeze to bring supposed private-industry efficiencies to the system) and the limitless opportunities for graft, corruption, self-dealing, corner-cutting and other abuses grand and petty that these Trusts enable. The many scenes in healthcare facilities have a feel of truth to them (the author's wife is an NHS doctor), as well as a level of cynicism and black humor that makes M.A.S.H. look like the Hallmark Channel.
What happened to the fifth star? (Actually, it's only half a star gone missing; Goodreads still doesn't give us that ability, more's the pity.) This is Brookmyre's first novel, and it has a couple problems that reveal it as such. You'll have figured out the final twist in the plot before Our Heroes do, and it seems to take them a while to catch up. Also, the chief baddie seems to go completely out-of-character to force a climax with physical threats to Our Heroes, which seems more of a narrative convenience than an necessity.
Quite Ugly One Morning is one helluva debut novel: an exercise in extreme attitude that will make you laugh at highly inappropriate things and root for truly cracked characters. It's not for the faint of heart or pure of soul. If this was a movie, it would be a Guy Ritchie movie in the vein of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch. Sound good to you? Get it now.
Jeremy Ponsonby, scion of a well-established Edinburgh medical family, is found in poor condition -- messily dead in a wrecked apartment -- sparking off a shambolic police investigation. Ponsonby's upstairs neighbor, gonzo journalist and series lead Jack Parlabane, happens to wander into both the apartment (alcohol is involved) and the investigation. Naturally, he launches his own inquiry. The action and POV pinballs between Parlabane, the victim's ex-wife, two of the police, a Thatcherite swine, and a large and accident-prone thug as it uncovers bad behavior in all its forms and in all quarters.
Settings are sketched economically unless the author deliberately goes over the top for comic effect; the initial crime scene, for instance, layers the bad over the worse until it's both hilarious and cringe-inducing. The crime and all its sequelae start out suitably opaque and slowly come into focus as the police and Parlabane dig up or stumble over various leads. You'll get a general idea of who did what to whom early on, but the "why" takes a while and a few detours until all is revealed. But the plot isn't the real reason to read this or any of the author's other works; it's the dialog and attitude, all of which is spot on, raunchy, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny in a really dark, twisted way.
It's likely no coincidence that Brookmyre was a member of the Fourth Estate before he began writing about the imaginary people in his wee haid. He's said that Parlabane is his "wish fulfillment" character. Jack lives hard and suffers from it; he's been chased out of both London and Los Angeles by threats to his continued existence. When he does manage to stay sober, he's observant, persistent, obstinate, limitlessly irreverent, and a sucker for stories that allow him to cut down the tall poppies.
This could get exhausting but for the author's other kink: his POV jumps between characters, and he nails their individual voices while he makes them into at least real-ish people. Unusually for a male author, the female characters read as lasses rather than blokes in bras. Even when the characters are lunatics or cretins, they're mostly not entirely cartoons.
As in the other Brookmyre novels I've read, the author has a larger grievance that the story exposes. Here it's the National Health Service, specifically the NHS Trusts (a Blairite wheeze to bring supposed private-industry efficiencies to the system) and the limitless opportunities for graft, corruption, self-dealing, corner-cutting and other abuses grand and petty that these Trusts enable. The many scenes in healthcare facilities have a feel of truth to them (the author's wife is an NHS doctor), as well as a level of cynicism and black humor that makes M.A.S.H. look like the Hallmark Channel.
What happened to the fifth star? (Actually, it's only half a star gone missing; Goodreads still doesn't give us that ability, more's the pity.) This is Brookmyre's first novel, and it has a couple problems that reveal it as such. You'll have figured out the final twist in the plot before Our Heroes do, and it seems to take them a while to catch up. Also, the chief baddie seems to go completely out-of-character to force a climax with physical threats to Our Heroes, which seems more of a narrative convenience than an necessity.
Quite Ugly One Morning is one helluva debut novel: an exercise in extreme attitude that will make you laugh at highly inappropriate things and root for truly cracked characters. It's not for the faint of heart or pure of soul. If this was a movie, it would be a Guy Ritchie movie in the vein of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch. Sound good to you? Get it now.
May 10, 2019
“Parlabane found the word ‘pro-active’ enormously useful, as it immediately exposed the speaker as an irredeemable arsehole, whatever previous impression might have been given. Every time he heard it he imagined George Orwell doing another 360 down below.”
Even if this book had no other redeeming quality than this little gem—and it has plenty more to offer—it would be worth the price of admission, of whatever the literary equivalent of that is called.
Reading a few of the reviews of this book here, I was puzzled why so many people claimed to be offended by the author’s choice of including a human turd in the cast of characters yet didn’t bat an eye at the grotesque violence that literally surrounded the aforementioned pile of excrement. People get a good look at a turd every day but if we’re lucky, we’ll never see a tortured corpse. It’s like how people are offended by sex on TV, but literally tens of thousands of murders are OK for their children to witness before they turn 18. People are weird.
The book was quite fun and I especially enjoyed the Scottish vernacular as I was just coming off a book on the history of English. Now I hear a Scots accent in my head.
Even if this book had no other redeeming quality than this little gem—and it has plenty more to offer—it would be worth the price of admission, of whatever the literary equivalent of that is called.
Reading a few of the reviews of this book here, I was puzzled why so many people claimed to be offended by the author’s choice of including a human turd in the cast of characters yet didn’t bat an eye at the grotesque violence that literally surrounded the aforementioned pile of excrement. People get a good look at a turd every day but if we’re lucky, we’ll never see a tortured corpse. It’s like how people are offended by sex on TV, but literally tens of thousands of murders are OK for their children to witness before they turn 18. People are weird.
The book was quite fun and I especially enjoyed the Scottish vernacular as I was just coming off a book on the history of English. Now I hear a Scots accent in my head.
April 17, 2013
Fun, manic crime novel set in Edinburgh, which starts with a bang and never lets up. Also made me laugh that the NHS trust manager is portrayed in the way he is, as is the corporate structure of the NHS.
February 4, 2018
An excellent story that shows us all the shite going on in the hospital business.
There's some crooked people, they're maybe a little stereotypical, but they're crooked enough for my liking. The good guys are good characters too, and the main character, Parlabane, is also a bad ass.
I liked the easy writing, the fast-paced story and the characters. So I wanna read more of this series.
Sure, there was probably a little too much of excrement and vomit and such for my liking, but I'm gonna let it slide. Pun intended.
There's some crooked people, they're maybe a little stereotypical, but they're crooked enough for my liking. The good guys are good characters too, and the main character, Parlabane, is also a bad ass.
I liked the easy writing, the fast-paced story and the characters. So I wanna read more of this series.
Sure, there was probably a little too much of excrement and vomit and such for my liking, but I'm gonna let it slide. Pun intended.
September 5, 2014
Quite Ugly One Morning = ((NHS + money-grabbing politician) x (Parlabane + romance)) ^ Graphic violence
For a long time previously my other half had been reading Brookmyre and loving them. Loving them so much that he would stay up late into the night reading them because he just had to finish. My reaction to this would be to moan; "Turn out the light, I want to go to sleep!"
After much cajoling, I finally agreed to read a Brookmyre book. Being the anal kind of person that I am, I insisted on starting at the beginning.
Before I'd even finished the book I was apologising to my other half for ever moaning or rolling my eyes when he couldn't put a Brookmyre book down, or insisted on reading snippets out to me.
I was hooked by page three. It is a fantastic opening chapter, and still my second favourite Brookmyre chapter ever. Graphic violence galore, but damn if he doesn't make it funny. If you don't laugh out loud during that first chapter, then I truly believe you have no sense on humour.
The rest of the book made me laugh, and cringe, and pull faces and go "eww", and smile and go "aww", and laugh again. And more.
I will admit, I didn't like Parlabane at first. But like the mould in the on-call showers, he grew on me. Brookmyres characters are, if looked at rationally, kind of over-the-top and unrealistically caricatural, but that doesn't stop them being brilliantly done, and, in more subtle ways, they do have a lot of depth. I really really hated the evil characters, I really really loved the good characters and I really really laughed at the comic relief characters (McGregor, Skinner, I'm looking at you).
Basically, I would recommend this book to everyone.
For a long time previously my other half had been reading Brookmyre and loving them. Loving them so much that he would stay up late into the night reading them because he just had to finish. My reaction to this would be to moan; "Turn out the light, I want to go to sleep!"
After much cajoling, I finally agreed to read a Brookmyre book. Being the anal kind of person that I am, I insisted on starting at the beginning.
Before I'd even finished the book I was apologising to my other half for ever moaning or rolling my eyes when he couldn't put a Brookmyre book down, or insisted on reading snippets out to me.
I was hooked by page three. It is a fantastic opening chapter, and still my second favourite Brookmyre chapter ever. Graphic violence galore, but damn if he doesn't make it funny. If you don't laugh out loud during that first chapter, then I truly believe you have no sense on humour.
The rest of the book made me laugh, and cringe, and pull faces and go "eww", and smile and go "aww", and laugh again. And more.
I will admit, I didn't like Parlabane at first. But like the mould in the on-call showers, he grew on me. Brookmyres characters are, if looked at rationally, kind of over-the-top and unrealistically caricatural, but that doesn't stop them being brilliantly done, and, in more subtle ways, they do have a lot of depth. I really really hated the evil characters, I really really loved the good characters and I really really laughed at the comic relief characters (McGregor, Skinner, I'm looking at you).
Basically, I would recommend this book to everyone.
November 10, 2014
I like the genre name "Tartan Noir", to which this book belongs. It's a mystery/crime novel set in Edinburgh in the 90's. The book is funny and I liked the writing, but the plot is nothing special: I'm bored with evil, moneygrubbing corporate executives. This is actually a rather odd mystery in that the villain's identity is revealed quite early on. It reminded me of a Coen brothers movie: the bad guys are horrific and yet hilariously incompetent, and you watch while the good guys track them down.
The first few chapters are gross (vivid descriptions of gore and bodily waste) but thankfully the book doesn't continue long in that vein. I liked the protagonist and while the characterizations were all a bit shallow, I enjoyed the supporting cast. I've already ordered the next couple of books featuring these characters.
I enjoyed the fact that Parlabane, who is inured to bloody crime scenes and fearless about breaking and entering, completely freaks out when he discovers that someone is trying to kill him. He doesn't go into tough-guy mode, he up and flees to another continent. It was a refreshingly normal reaction for a crime novel hero.
The first few chapters are gross (vivid descriptions of gore and bodily waste) but thankfully the book doesn't continue long in that vein. I liked the protagonist and while the characterizations were all a bit shallow, I enjoyed the supporting cast. I've already ordered the next couple of books featuring these characters.
I enjoyed the fact that Parlabane, who is inured to bloody crime scenes and fearless about breaking and entering, completely freaks out when he discovers that someone is trying to kill him. He doesn't go into tough-guy mode, he up and flees to another continent. It was a refreshingly normal reaction for a crime novel hero.
March 2, 2017
3.5 stars
After reading the 7th book in this series (Black Widow) and loving it, I decided to go back to the beginning. So this is the first Jack Parlabane book which was written in around 1995. Surprisingly I found it hardly dated at all. The reference to 'personals' (mobile phones or cells) was about the only dated aspect.
Jack Parlabane is an investigative reporter that loves the hard-hitting exposes. He has just returned from two years in LA from where he had to skedaddle after someone had tried to kill him. He's hardly moved into his new digs when a doctor who lived on the floor below him was brutally murdered. His natural curiosity kicks in and voila, we have a case and a story.
This book is full of humorous dialogue and commentary. I love the Scottish vernacular and, at times, had to laugh out loud despite the serious subject matter. Jack is soon on the trail of massive corruption within one of the NHS Trusts. Things soon take a more dangerous twist for Jack and Sarah (the ex-wife of the murdered doctor) who has been helping him uncover this scam.
It was a very entertaining story, I really enjoyed it. And well done for a debut novel. On to number 2 in due course.
After reading the 7th book in this series (Black Widow) and loving it, I decided to go back to the beginning. So this is the first Jack Parlabane book which was written in around 1995. Surprisingly I found it hardly dated at all. The reference to 'personals' (mobile phones or cells) was about the only dated aspect.
Jack Parlabane is an investigative reporter that loves the hard-hitting exposes. He has just returned from two years in LA from where he had to skedaddle after someone had tried to kill him. He's hardly moved into his new digs when a doctor who lived on the floor below him was brutally murdered. His natural curiosity kicks in and voila, we have a case and a story.
This book is full of humorous dialogue and commentary. I love the Scottish vernacular and, at times, had to laugh out loud despite the serious subject matter. Jack is soon on the trail of massive corruption within one of the NHS Trusts. Things soon take a more dangerous twist for Jack and Sarah (the ex-wife of the murdered doctor) who has been helping him uncover this scam.
It was a very entertaining story, I really enjoyed it. And well done for a debut novel. On to number 2 in due course.
April 3, 2015
This book was quite a surprise to me - many books covers I recognise for various reasons and this as a quite distinctive cover, but it wasn't until a local book club suggested this as their next title did I decided to give it a go.
The book has a very black humour running through it with some very memorable set pieces which are a mixture of disgusting and very funny (I guess working with a number of scots I have experienced this sort of dialogue first hand!), but there is also an enthralling story running through it which at times can be lost a bit but always finds its way to shine through again.
The book is historically based, set in "post-thatcherite" Scotland. The events are fictitious but "climate" were real, this sets off the tone which comes across as angry and frustrated which is reflected in the storyline too. This may not be to everyones taste but for me having lived through that time and have experienced the colour and character of the Scottish this was a great book which has certainly encouraged me to read more the Parlabane books
The book has a very black humour running through it with some very memorable set pieces which are a mixture of disgusting and very funny (I guess working with a number of scots I have experienced this sort of dialogue first hand!), but there is also an enthralling story running through it which at times can be lost a bit but always finds its way to shine through again.
The book is historically based, set in "post-thatcherite" Scotland. The events are fictitious but "climate" were real, this sets off the tone which comes across as angry and frustrated which is reflected in the storyline too. This may not be to everyones taste but for me having lived through that time and have experienced the colour and character of the Scottish this was a great book which has certainly encouraged me to read more the Parlabane books
June 9, 2020
This was my first Brookmyre, and whilst the plot is good, the characters well described, the balance of humour against the gore and unpleasant substances doesn't work for me.
Humour and dark crime are a blend to get right as Scotch whisky. My preference is on understated and subtle black humour, and I find so few authors can do this successfully. Brookmyre's brand of humour is more slapstick and the story veers towards farce frequently. That's fine of course for those who like it that way, but just not for me.
Humour and dark crime are a blend to get right as Scotch whisky. My preference is on understated and subtle black humour, and I find so few authors can do this successfully. Brookmyre's brand of humour is more slapstick and the story veers towards farce frequently. That's fine of course for those who like it that way, but just not for me.
August 22, 2016
If Quentin Tarantino and Carl Hiassen had a love child, and he was Scottish, he might turn out to be something like Christopher Brookmyre - violent, profane and outrageously funny.
Jack Parlabane is an intrepid muckraking journalist who stumbles - quite literally - into a horrific murder scene. The doctor in the apartment below him has been killed. Parlabane determines to get to the bottom of it with the help of the doctor's ex-wife and DC Jenny Dalziel. They uncover massive financial chicanery and mass murder in the National Health System. It's savage social satire and laugh out loud funny in so many places I lost count.
About Parlabane, Brookmyre says:
"To fully acknowledge the extent of the debt I owe Douglas Adams - as a reader and a writer - would very possibly crash this server, so I will merely cite one significant example. I am frequently asked who was the inspiration for my investigative journalist Jack Parlabane; whether he has some real-life antecedent or represents some indulgent alter-ego of mine. The truth is that Parlabane was entirely inspired by Ford Prefect: I always adored the idea of a character who cheerfully wanders into enormously dangerous situations and effortlessly makes them much worse."
Jack Parlabane is an intrepid muckraking journalist who stumbles - quite literally - into a horrific murder scene. The doctor in the apartment below him has been killed. Parlabane determines to get to the bottom of it with the help of the doctor's ex-wife and DC Jenny Dalziel. They uncover massive financial chicanery and mass murder in the National Health System. It's savage social satire and laugh out loud funny in so many places I lost count.
About Parlabane, Brookmyre says:
"To fully acknowledge the extent of the debt I owe Douglas Adams - as a reader and a writer - would very possibly crash this server, so I will merely cite one significant example. I am frequently asked who was the inspiration for my investigative journalist Jack Parlabane; whether he has some real-life antecedent or represents some indulgent alter-ego of mine. The truth is that Parlabane was entirely inspired by Ford Prefect: I always adored the idea of a character who cheerfully wanders into enormously dangerous situations and effortlessly makes them much worse."
June 12, 2017
There was one thing I liked about this book: The rancid detail of the crime scene and the violence that led to it. Not much else grabbed my attention though. The characters were colourful enough, but the only interesting ones were the villains. The writer kept telling me how cool the heroes were, but they were a bit too obvious for my taste.
July 27, 2020
3.5* rounded up.
I enjoyed (most of) the humour in this book, but struggled with all the Scottish vocabulary/slang. The introduction perhaps set me up for noticing this, but it was a bit of an 'issue novel', with heavy-handed references to the tragic state of the NHS. Then the tone in other places was quite coarse, and the villains verging on the cartoonish. I liked Jack and Sarah and their police officer pal Jenny, but I think I'll wait before reading the next in the series.
I enjoyed (most of) the humour in this book, but struggled with all the Scottish vocabulary/slang. The introduction perhaps set me up for noticing this, but it was a bit of an 'issue novel', with heavy-handed references to the tragic state of the NHS. Then the tone in other places was quite coarse, and the villains verging on the cartoonish. I liked Jack and Sarah and their police officer pal Jenny, but I think I'll wait before reading the next in the series.
April 10, 2018
Kind of a unique protagonist. Had a bit of trouble translating some of the Scottish slang and found Jack just a bit too macho and quick thinking but I have never read a more humorous murder scene than the first one in this book. Not a funny subject but I was laughing out loud at the clumsiness of the murderer.
For those of you who do read it, an excellent Scottish online translator is: http://www.scotranslate.com/#
For those of you who do read it, an excellent Scottish online translator is: http://www.scotranslate.com/#
August 25, 2025
When I first came across the series, it sounded like something I would like and it was. I like it a lot - it was a good story. Interesting characters and a bit of humor thrown in, all things I like in a book. Of course, my sense of humor may be a bit dark; for instance I thought it was hilarious when one guy's hand got chopped off by a train running over it. But context is important here and I don't want to give anything away. The ending was satisfying up to the final sentence
August 1, 2020
I really wasn't sure about this one. It was written in a way where you knew the cast and who did what. And you were waiting to see how it all connected and played out. Just loved it.
You had everything I like in a murder mystery. Victim, assassin, corporate twat, nosy journalist, tenured DI, macho DS and the love interesy. What more can you want, oh yeah its based in Edinburgh and ends in one character 'touching base' with someone else.
Hysterical Chris Brookmyre, you're on my book list now!
You had everything I like in a murder mystery. Victim, assassin, corporate twat, nosy journalist, tenured DI, macho DS and the love interesy. What more can you want, oh yeah its based in Edinburgh and ends in one character 'touching base' with someone else.
Hysterical Chris Brookmyre, you're on my book list now!
July 10, 2023
So damn funny omg, one of the few books I had to put down because I was laughing so much
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