Pot Luck

by Nick Fisher

Brothers Adrian and Matty Collins are close to rock sick of the sight of each other and barely scraping a living from the only job they have ever crab fishing off the south coast.

Every day is a depressing repeat of the one that has gone before – until a discovery in a remote spot of the English Channel changes everything.

It could be the best thing that has ever happened to them – or the worst?

Set in the fishing community of Weymouth, Pot Luck is a thriller with sinister twists and a raggedy mob of opportunists and bottom-feeders, drowning in an ocean of bad blood.

Genres: Fiction, Crime

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2016

About the author

(Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database. This is Nick^Fisher [1 space].)

Nick Fisher was a British scriptwriter, journalist and angler. In the 1990s he was an agony uncle for teenage magazines and wrote books on sex education. He wrote radio plays for the BBC and won a BAFTA award in 2006 for his work on The Giblet Boys, and was a scriptwriter for major TV drama series including Holby City. He also had expertise in angling, and presented the Channel 4 series Screaming Reels. With TV cook and food activist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, he won the André Simon Memorial book award in 2007 for The River Cottage Fish Book. He appeared with Fearnley-Whittingstall on River Cottage: Gone Fishing.

Reviews

[Esmeralda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book captures the uglier sides of the countryside perfectly. Reading it feels cinematic, the characters are tangible and the plot is dark and compelling. I loved it and I can't wait for the TV adaptation!

[Darren Guthrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a visceral and brilliantly evocative crime caper set amongst the crabbing pots and fishing boats of Weymouth harbour. Well observed and wittily drawn this book teems with hilarious down at heel characters desperately trying to cling on to their place in the world as the ground shifts under them. It’s both an ode to a former way of life where men worked hard honest jobs, fixed their own boats and mended their own pots and a celebration of the dark and brutal ecosystem of the English Channel both on shore and off. Full of fascinating insights and vivid multisensory detail this is an exploration of coastal life that undercuts our idyllic preconception of the seaside and then some. But for all its wonderful descriptive detail it’s a rollercoaster ride of a tale, packing in the shocks and spills and twists and turns that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

It does for Dorset and Weymouth what Fargo did for South Dakota. In fact the Coen Brothers are a good comparison, as it shares with them a similar vein of black humour, visceral detail and enjoyment of the way ordinary people are only a few wrong choices away from disaster.

[Jackie Spurrier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut novel is a fantastic read. A crime drama that focuses on two brothers' struggle to survive in the arduous and surprisingly fascinating world of commercial crabbing, it is a gripping story. There is fabulous characterisation, edgy, witty writing and some wonderful memorable language. I particularly like "pint-pulling parasite" and "skinny-bitch close to each other" amongst many other refreshingly real-life turns of phrase.
The plot is fast-paced as the short chapters succinctly weave the different strands together culminating in a very satisfying ending.

[Mr M N Postma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well crafted tale

Writes like Carl Hiassen off the weed.
Fanciful yet believable.
Fast paced and exciting.
Go Helen, go!
Let's see the follow up soon...

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay for me. I enjoyed parts of it and didn't really enjoy other parts.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pot Luck was a very pacey book, from the first page I was well and truly into it. It introduced me to the harsh world of commercial fishing, as well as a new found knowledge of what lurks in the depths off the Weymouth coast. I enjoyed the twist and turns of Matty and Adrian's lives right to the end and would recommend it.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone had told me I would love a book about crab fishing in Weymouth, I would not have believed them.
But I thought this book was fantastic, it is a book that I could not put down until I had finished it.
At times it is funny, sometimes full of surprises & twists & turns & I really enjoyed reading it.
I would recommend it to all my friends & family.

[Jonathan Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Highly entertaining.