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Deep Fried Living: A Dark Comedy Thriller
A hilarious Scottish crime comedy featuring kidnapping, sex tapes and deep fried Mars Bars.
Unemployed and hapless, Hugh needs to find a way to raise some money before his debts catch up with him. Can his famous cousin provide the answer?
Rob used to tour the world as the lead singer of ‘West Coast Delta’. Since he broke up the band his life has mainly consisted of boozy lunches, fast food dinners and watching movies in his purpose built cinema room. Rob has moved on from his previous life, but is yet to find something to replace it. Hugh still lives in Pitside, the ex-mining village that he grew up in. His daily routine is not unlike Rob’s, except that the variety of fast food is more limited.
Hugh’s life has recently become more complicated by his need to raise money in order to pay off a debt. A brief reunion between the cousins at a funeral leads Hugh to see Rob as the answer to all his problems. Hugh has never kidnapped anyone before, but how hard can it be?
Unemployed and hapless, Hugh needs to find a way to raise some money before his debts catch up with him. Can his famous cousin provide the answer?
Rob used to tour the world as the lead singer of ‘West Coast Delta’. Since he broke up the band his life has mainly consisted of boozy lunches, fast food dinners and watching movies in his purpose built cinema room. Rob has moved on from his previous life, but is yet to find something to replace it. Hugh still lives in Pitside, the ex-mining village that he grew up in. His daily routine is not unlike Rob’s, except that the variety of fast food is more limited.
Hugh’s life has recently become more complicated by his need to raise money in order to pay off a debt. A brief reunion between the cousins at a funeral leads Hugh to see Rob as the answer to all his problems. Hugh has never kidnapped anyone before, but how hard can it be?
197 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 13, 2017
‘Daytime TV was Hugh’s recent life.’
British comedy is a special treat (spoken by a reader across the ocean!), and Craig Hamm serves this genre well. The book is short, easily read as a diversion for an evening’s relaxation, and has enough of a mixture of crime parody and interpersonal relationship to make it ring. Craig leaves no biographical information by which to gain entry into his training or background except that he has written this 2015 debut novel DEEP FRIED LIVING: A BRITISH CRIME COMEDY, and the brief novellas THE FISH THAT FELL OUT OF THE TREE: JOURNAL OF FAILURE, and SCHRODINGER’S FALL: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY BOOK 1.
Craig’s idea and the manner in which he introduces them have a particular flavor – such as the suicide thoughts that open this story: ‘Thirty minutes earlier Hugh, Shagger to all who knew him, had decided that he had had enough of life and all that it had to offer him. He made the decision to try and kill himself. He was, however, only going to try. He had no intention of succeeding. The idea was to go as close as he could to the edge and see how it made him feel. He had a vague notion that his life would flash before him and that he would then find, amongst the trail of memories, a long-forgotten reason to go on, something which would give him both direction and enthusiasm. He made a noose out of a belt, placed it around his neck and threw the end over the top of the living room door. He then shut the door over to keep the belt in place and, by relaxing down off his toes, tightened the noose. Unfortunately, Hugh only had two belts. The better of the two was real leather, but had a large eagle motif as a buckle. This had a hook for securing the belt, which made it impossible to create a self-tightening noose. The other belt was a cheap patent look plastic belt which came free with a pair of black polyester trousers that he once bought for a funeral. As he relaxed down off his toes, the main flaw in his plan became apparent. The belt stretched with the weight of Hugh’s body. The noose did tighten enough to partially restrict his breathing, but he was in no danger of having to pull back from the brink of death. As Hugh stood there, deflated by the situation, his attention drifted to the TV in the corner. Hugh’s TV was switched on in the morning and stayed on all day, whether he was watching or not. The TV was treated very much like a radio, on in the background with Hugh dipping in and out of programs. Some daytime magazine show was on. It was presented by an ex children’s TV presenter. He had replaced another ex-children’s presenter, who had been sacked after it had been revealed he was having a cocaine fueled affair with his fiancé’s mother’ And that style follows the reader through this slight but funny tale.
Craig condenses the story for us in the synopsis – ‘Hugh is unemployed and owes money to the local gangster. If he doesn't find a way to pay off the debt, he will be in serious trouble. A brief reunion with his famous rock star cousin, Rob, gives him an idea. He’s never kidnapped anyone before, but how hard can it be? Okay, it is his cousin, which does make it a little more complicated than your average abduction. Rob has his own problems. His girlfriend thinks he's having a mid-life crisis and needs to get back to work on his career. Rob just wishes she would leave him in peace to read his graphic novels and watch the Discovery channel. If you like your crime novels with a large helping of dark humour, you will love this story of two Scottish cousins whose lives have taken very different paths.’
British comedy well served (though an close editorial eye could tidy the book and exit the distractions). Deep? No. But funny, Yes.
British comedy is a special treat (spoken by a reader across the ocean!), and Craig Hamm serves this genre well. The book is short, easily read as a diversion for an evening’s relaxation, and has enough of a mixture of crime parody and interpersonal relationship to make it ring. Craig leaves no biographical information by which to gain entry into his training or background except that he has written this 2015 debut novel DEEP FRIED LIVING: A BRITISH CRIME COMEDY, and the brief novellas THE FISH THAT FELL OUT OF THE TREE: JOURNAL OF FAILURE, and SCHRODINGER’S FALL: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY BOOK 1.
Craig’s idea and the manner in which he introduces them have a particular flavor – such as the suicide thoughts that open this story: ‘Thirty minutes earlier Hugh, Shagger to all who knew him, had decided that he had had enough of life and all that it had to offer him. He made the decision to try and kill himself. He was, however, only going to try. He had no intention of succeeding. The idea was to go as close as he could to the edge and see how it made him feel. He had a vague notion that his life would flash before him and that he would then find, amongst the trail of memories, a long-forgotten reason to go on, something which would give him both direction and enthusiasm. He made a noose out of a belt, placed it around his neck and threw the end over the top of the living room door. He then shut the door over to keep the belt in place and, by relaxing down off his toes, tightened the noose. Unfortunately, Hugh only had two belts. The better of the two was real leather, but had a large eagle motif as a buckle. This had a hook for securing the belt, which made it impossible to create a self-tightening noose. The other belt was a cheap patent look plastic belt which came free with a pair of black polyester trousers that he once bought for a funeral. As he relaxed down off his toes, the main flaw in his plan became apparent. The belt stretched with the weight of Hugh’s body. The noose did tighten enough to partially restrict his breathing, but he was in no danger of having to pull back from the brink of death. As Hugh stood there, deflated by the situation, his attention drifted to the TV in the corner. Hugh’s TV was switched on in the morning and stayed on all day, whether he was watching or not. The TV was treated very much like a radio, on in the background with Hugh dipping in and out of programs. Some daytime magazine show was on. It was presented by an ex children’s TV presenter. He had replaced another ex-children’s presenter, who had been sacked after it had been revealed he was having a cocaine fueled affair with his fiancé’s mother’ And that style follows the reader through this slight but funny tale.
Craig condenses the story for us in the synopsis – ‘Hugh is unemployed and owes money to the local gangster. If he doesn't find a way to pay off the debt, he will be in serious trouble. A brief reunion with his famous rock star cousin, Rob, gives him an idea. He’s never kidnapped anyone before, but how hard can it be? Okay, it is his cousin, which does make it a little more complicated than your average abduction. Rob has his own problems. His girlfriend thinks he's having a mid-life crisis and needs to get back to work on his career. Rob just wishes she would leave him in peace to read his graphic novels and watch the Discovery channel. If you like your crime novels with a large helping of dark humour, you will love this story of two Scottish cousins whose lives have taken very different paths.’
British comedy well served (though an close editorial eye could tidy the book and exit the distractions). Deep? No. But funny, Yes.
January 11, 2018
This novel is British comedy at its finest, in my opinion. The dry humor that seeps into every sentence will have you smirking from one page to the next. Of course, it is more than just humor that makes this story fun. The story line is exciting and will remind you of all the cousins you’ve been compared to by your family. I thought the writing was very fast paced and engaging. It’s fairly simple to read, so the book really flies by. There are some grammatical errors and issues with the book that could be fixed for a smoother read, but altogether I didn’t find them too annoying. I think anyone who loves dark humor would get a kick out of this book though. I can’t give away too much with the plot, but you’re certain to enjoy the ride that this author has created for you to enjoy.
July 23, 2018
A good book, should have been longer
A book which kept me distracted for a while. It should have been longer though I felt. I liked the characters as flawed as they all were, but aren't all characters?
A book which kept me distracted for a while. It should have been longer though I felt. I liked the characters as flawed as they all were, but aren't all characters?
December 28, 2020
Runs along nicely as a story with a few laughs along the way. A good addition to the Scottish storytelling genre at the moment and overall I enjoyed it.
March 15, 2024
quite funny
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews