What do you think?
Rate this book
Lairies
Shaun wakes up in hospital after a fight in a local nightclub and discovers his girlfriend has been assaulted. Ade and Colbeck were there that night – the climax to weeks of escalating violence, their two-man vigilante mission to kick back against a broken generation. A misguided plan to combat the lairies that blight broken Britain’s bars, pubs and streets.
What really happened that night? And how did it come to this?
Lairies is the brilliant and brutal debut from Steve Hollyman, mapping the lives of violent young men at the start of the twenty-first century, living aimlessly but desperately hunting for purpose. Hollyman speaks to the heart of working class, small-town Britain, offering scathing insight into masculinity and the bleak realities of a man’s aimless early twenties, lifting the lid on a world most would rather ignore.
What really happened that night? And how did it come to this?
Lairies is the brilliant and brutal debut from Steve Hollyman, mapping the lives of violent young men at the start of the twenty-first century, living aimlessly but desperately hunting for purpose. Hollyman speaks to the heart of working class, small-town Britain, offering scathing insight into masculinity and the bleak realities of a man’s aimless early twenties, lifting the lid on a world most would rather ignore.
- GenresFiction
420 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2021
4 people are currently reading
269 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 22, 2025
Rough and rumbustious tale of millennial yoof in the early 2000s, where two off-the-rails university graduates pursue a life of loafing and ultraviolence. Transported me right back to my Edinburgh days, where I murdered nine people for a laugh between lectures. You had to make your own entertainment before smartphones in them days.
January 31, 2021
This is one loud and aggressive book full of violence, drinking and rude words…it is also a book with as many layers as an onion. Written from the point of view of multiple characters, who unknowingly cross paths and split across different time lines, it is much easier to read than you’d expect. It is one of those books where you know the outcome at the beginning, the book’s focus is guiding the reader to that outcome and finding out who was responsible for what.
A large part of the book is focused on Ade and Colbeck and the violence that surrounds them, they think of themselves as musketeers, going out at night defending the weak from boozed up thugs. They have a set of rules which they think keeps them on the side of what’s right but as the violence starts to escalate they start to forget these rules and it’s not long before it all gets out of control and this life starts to affect their mental wellbeing. Another character who has the biggest voice in the book is Duncan, in love and out of his depth with Ade and Colbeck he has a major role to play here, I really enjoyed his parts such a good voice and I really got into him saying “obvo” and “like” all the time. Finally you have Shaun, with some clever writing he gets two voices, before and after the main event, an angry young lad for different reasons in each time line.
I don’t think you can read this book without considering Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, you have your Renton, the calming influence trying to get through life and caring for others and then you have a number of Begbies and it is them that makes this such an explosive book.
One thing that I was most impressed with was how it deals with the need of men to be strong and masculine, Ade gets it spot on with the trap Colbeck was stuck in, unable to express his feelings without looking weak in front of his mates and having to deal with depression on his own. It covers the idleness you are faced with when signing on each week and having no focus in your life, once stuck in that rut it is so difficult to get out of it again.
Brilliant book, even though it is just over 400 pages long it pulls you in and becomes a quick read. A very good debut, I am always impressed when a debut is this good it just means I can’t wait to see what Hollyman comes out with next. (Currently writing this review whilst listening to Jamie T’s album Trick, great soundtrack for this book)
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2021...
A large part of the book is focused on Ade and Colbeck and the violence that surrounds them, they think of themselves as musketeers, going out at night defending the weak from boozed up thugs. They have a set of rules which they think keeps them on the side of what’s right but as the violence starts to escalate they start to forget these rules and it’s not long before it all gets out of control and this life starts to affect their mental wellbeing. Another character who has the biggest voice in the book is Duncan, in love and out of his depth with Ade and Colbeck he has a major role to play here, I really enjoyed his parts such a good voice and I really got into him saying “obvo” and “like” all the time. Finally you have Shaun, with some clever writing he gets two voices, before and after the main event, an angry young lad for different reasons in each time line.
I don’t think you can read this book without considering Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, you have your Renton, the calming influence trying to get through life and caring for others and then you have a number of Begbies and it is them that makes this such an explosive book.
One thing that I was most impressed with was how it deals with the need of men to be strong and masculine, Ade gets it spot on with the trap Colbeck was stuck in, unable to express his feelings without looking weak in front of his mates and having to deal with depression on his own. It covers the idleness you are faced with when signing on each week and having no focus in your life, once stuck in that rut it is so difficult to get out of it again.
Brilliant book, even though it is just over 400 pages long it pulls you in and becomes a quick read. A very good debut, I am always impressed when a debut is this good it just means I can’t wait to see what Hollyman comes out with next. (Currently writing this review whilst listening to Jamie T’s album Trick, great soundtrack for this book)
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2021...
January 13, 2021
Lairies follows a number of working class young men in small-town Britain. Living aimlessly with a lack of opportunity, and a lack of control - they decide their way to change things is as a two man vigilante mission.
I was a bit apprehensive at first because I try to avoid consuming violence but this was so refreshing!! The violence was grimly unpleasant to read but overall it was surprisingly moralistic for a book about beating people up.
The pace was perfect, it didn’t reveal too much too soon, and for a novel with a different character viewpoint each chapter I wasn’t left feeling lost. The one thing I wish I could change would be Duncan’s chapters - they were written in the first person and so included features of his speech. The “like” and “I goes” irritated me, you can definitely write a good working class character without having to write “like” at the end of his thoughts.
BUT overall - I found it gripping and it brought up many good questions: Is it better to do nothing, or to incite violence too under the guise of protecting people from violence? Is physical violence worse than passivity? Is it worse than other forms of violence?
I was a bit apprehensive at first because I try to avoid consuming violence but this was so refreshing!! The violence was grimly unpleasant to read but overall it was surprisingly moralistic for a book about beating people up.
The pace was perfect, it didn’t reveal too much too soon, and for a novel with a different character viewpoint each chapter I wasn’t left feeling lost. The one thing I wish I could change would be Duncan’s chapters - they were written in the first person and so included features of his speech. The “like” and “I goes” irritated me, you can definitely write a good working class character without having to write “like” at the end of his thoughts.
BUT overall - I found it gripping and it brought up many good questions: Is it better to do nothing, or to incite violence too under the guise of protecting people from violence? Is physical violence worse than passivity? Is it worse than other forms of violence?
February 15, 2021
What a belter of a book!
Lairies is told through several POV which provides a story of a group of young men out of work with next to no prospects fuelled by anger, drink, drugs and sex as they try to find meaning in their life. They hate the youth of the day because they're lairies - loud and cocky. The narratives are wild and violent and are cleverly intertwined as we find out their was an incident that took place which comes to a shocking brutal end.
Lairies is a combination of Trainspotting and Fight Club with a dark gritty plot. There's quite a few plot lines going on - we follow Colbeck and Ades rampage, Shaun and Stephs traumatic night out and Duncan and Sorels budding "romance". The novel builds up a lot of suspicion as the violence becomes more brutal they become unstoppable and their attacks become unjustified. The less violent of the bunch was Duncan who seems to be the voice of reason as he begins to feel uncomfortable with the violence. I expected this to be all guns blazing brutality however there were some tender moments as well as the violence. There were some misdirected chapters which were placed to make the reader think about who the characters were and where they were at the time of the incident - I found this particularly clever and it worked brilliantly. Colbeck was a very philosophical character who provided many words of wisdom in regards to society especially the last chapter which closed the book perfectly.
Lairies by Steve Hollyman is a drug fuelled violent rampage told through multiple narratives with a bit of dry sarcastic humour telling a tale of society.
Lairies is told through several POV which provides a story of a group of young men out of work with next to no prospects fuelled by anger, drink, drugs and sex as they try to find meaning in their life. They hate the youth of the day because they're lairies - loud and cocky. The narratives are wild and violent and are cleverly intertwined as we find out their was an incident that took place which comes to a shocking brutal end.
Lairies is a combination of Trainspotting and Fight Club with a dark gritty plot. There's quite a few plot lines going on - we follow Colbeck and Ades rampage, Shaun and Stephs traumatic night out and Duncan and Sorels budding "romance". The novel builds up a lot of suspicion as the violence becomes more brutal they become unstoppable and their attacks become unjustified. The less violent of the bunch was Duncan who seems to be the voice of reason as he begins to feel uncomfortable with the violence. I expected this to be all guns blazing brutality however there were some tender moments as well as the violence. There were some misdirected chapters which were placed to make the reader think about who the characters were and where they were at the time of the incident - I found this particularly clever and it worked brilliantly. Colbeck was a very philosophical character who provided many words of wisdom in regards to society especially the last chapter which closed the book perfectly.
Lairies by Steve Hollyman is a drug fuelled violent rampage told through multiple narratives with a bit of dry sarcastic humour telling a tale of society.
April 20, 2021
Nights out in town, I forgot what they were, more so after four months of lockdown restrictions making life slow and meandering. The opening chapters of Lairies brought the madness of a night out back though, this book certainly packs a punch.
.
Steve described a typical "Lairie" well, those people on a night out salivating at the thought of violence, or getting blind drunk and causing chaos.
.
Even though the protagonists hated the Lairies, they came across very machismo and unlikeable themselves. You could feel their frustrations and insecurities from Steve's excellent storytelling.
.
The book sets quite a pace from the start and maintains it throughout. It's like a violent and aggressive Human Traffic (for those who havent seen this, it's a 1999 British film about friends working in dead end jobs, who live for the release of the weekend - check it out, it's a cult classic).
.
An engrossing read, exposing the vulnerabilities and frailties in men, as well as toxic masculinity. Brilliant debut novel, bring on the next one.
.
Steve described a typical "Lairie" well, those people on a night out salivating at the thought of violence, or getting blind drunk and causing chaos.
.
Even though the protagonists hated the Lairies, they came across very machismo and unlikeable themselves. You could feel their frustrations and insecurities from Steve's excellent storytelling.
.
The book sets quite a pace from the start and maintains it throughout. It's like a violent and aggressive Human Traffic (for those who havent seen this, it's a 1999 British film about friends working in dead end jobs, who live for the release of the weekend - check it out, it's a cult classic).
.
An engrossing read, exposing the vulnerabilities and frailties in men, as well as toxic masculinity. Brilliant debut novel, bring on the next one.
March 29, 2024
Everything I’ve ever wanted out of a book. Entertaining from start to finish. Gotta find more books of this nature.
December 29, 2021
A novel that gives you a good kicking and doesn’t stop once you’re down. Lairies is a brutal and harrowing account of monotony, violence and misguided youth. It follows a group of young men grappling to confront their purpose and belonging in a small, dull British town.
Intelligently structured, the novel’s effective multiple POV from each character allows the reader to acquaint with the group, exposing each member’s impulses, vices and vulnerabilities; their viewpoints at different time frames eventually woven together in a tragic climax.
The sheer aggression of the narrative means each character violently demands your attention. They pull you in forcibly and shake your emotions erratically. As a result, feelings towards the characters skittle from sheer uneasiness, in response to Ade and Colbeck’s belligerence and ruthlessness during their savage violence towards revelers in nightclubs, to snippets of empathy – particularly towards Dunc’s restlessness and anonymity in a world of a youth gone wild and toxic masculinity.
Queuing up for a nightclub in which Ade and Colbeck have a night of violence planned for anyone they deem worthy, he is reluctant and anxious for the night ahead: ‘don’t wanna be here, don’t wanna be here’. However, despite the brash and savage character of both Ade and Colbeck, the latter whom has a vengeful hatred for his ex-girlfriend who he regularly refers to as ‘the fucking bitch’, the reader can be found pitying them the most – merely isolated, disconnected young men so typical of the times. Aside from the main group, we hear accounts from another young male called Tag, seemingly coma-ridden after being attacked and his girlfriend raped after a debauched night out of his own: paranoid, love-sick, confused, beaten.
An overriding atmosphere of nostalgia dominates the plot, at times quite overwhelming for somebody who experienced the sticky floors of indie clubs, the worry of the next pint or line and the camaraderie and fearlessness of youth despite being financially wanting. The pubs, the clubs, the drugs, the alcohol, the overindulgence, excess; the old routines of debauchery in youth, at that ‘magic point in your life where you can do pretty much anything’, and as Dunc poignantly summarises: ‘I used to be invincible’. It completely encapsulates the absolute invulnerability of youth and how it gradually dissolves over time.
Subtle references to literature and writers litter the prose (Wilde, Thompson, Shakespeare, classic Greek to name a few). This may seem trivial, but the fact that such knowledge of the arts is awarded to the brazen character of Ade only heightens Dunc’s vulnerability in the process. He constantly gives recommendations for Duncan to read, such as Plato’s Republic, and explains the deeper meanings. Such highly cultural leanings placed against his animalistic urges (to which he decrees ‘there is an element of pleasure involved’) is almost illogical, not dissimilar to Alex DeLarge’s taste in classical music while placed alongside casual violence in A Clockwork Orange. As a result Ade becomes the loveable rogue: a composite of a maverick type figure such as Dean Moriarty, but fitted with the maniacal tendencies of Francis Begbie.
If the reader hadn’t yet been given the proverbial good kicking by the novel’s direct and unswerving prose, scenes of ‘cunts on the floor’ shielding their heads and cowering ‘like a scared animal’, heads being stamped upon and blood being swallowed in barbaric acts of nightclub violence will stick the final boot in. A sobering culmination. And just like men beaten senselessly unconscious, the reader has to face the ensuing reality of the surfacing.
Intelligently structured, the novel’s effective multiple POV from each character allows the reader to acquaint with the group, exposing each member’s impulses, vices and vulnerabilities; their viewpoints at different time frames eventually woven together in a tragic climax.
The sheer aggression of the narrative means each character violently demands your attention. They pull you in forcibly and shake your emotions erratically. As a result, feelings towards the characters skittle from sheer uneasiness, in response to Ade and Colbeck’s belligerence and ruthlessness during their savage violence towards revelers in nightclubs, to snippets of empathy – particularly towards Dunc’s restlessness and anonymity in a world of a youth gone wild and toxic masculinity.
Queuing up for a nightclub in which Ade and Colbeck have a night of violence planned for anyone they deem worthy, he is reluctant and anxious for the night ahead: ‘don’t wanna be here, don’t wanna be here’. However, despite the brash and savage character of both Ade and Colbeck, the latter whom has a vengeful hatred for his ex-girlfriend who he regularly refers to as ‘the fucking bitch’, the reader can be found pitying them the most – merely isolated, disconnected young men so typical of the times. Aside from the main group, we hear accounts from another young male called Tag, seemingly coma-ridden after being attacked and his girlfriend raped after a debauched night out of his own: paranoid, love-sick, confused, beaten.
An overriding atmosphere of nostalgia dominates the plot, at times quite overwhelming for somebody who experienced the sticky floors of indie clubs, the worry of the next pint or line and the camaraderie and fearlessness of youth despite being financially wanting. The pubs, the clubs, the drugs, the alcohol, the overindulgence, excess; the old routines of debauchery in youth, at that ‘magic point in your life where you can do pretty much anything’, and as Dunc poignantly summarises: ‘I used to be invincible’. It completely encapsulates the absolute invulnerability of youth and how it gradually dissolves over time.
Subtle references to literature and writers litter the prose (Wilde, Thompson, Shakespeare, classic Greek to name a few). This may seem trivial, but the fact that such knowledge of the arts is awarded to the brazen character of Ade only heightens Dunc’s vulnerability in the process. He constantly gives recommendations for Duncan to read, such as Plato’s Republic, and explains the deeper meanings. Such highly cultural leanings placed against his animalistic urges (to which he decrees ‘there is an element of pleasure involved’) is almost illogical, not dissimilar to Alex DeLarge’s taste in classical music while placed alongside casual violence in A Clockwork Orange. As a result Ade becomes the loveable rogue: a composite of a maverick type figure such as Dean Moriarty, but fitted with the maniacal tendencies of Francis Begbie.
If the reader hadn’t yet been given the proverbial good kicking by the novel’s direct and unswerving prose, scenes of ‘cunts on the floor’ shielding their heads and cowering ‘like a scared animal’, heads being stamped upon and blood being swallowed in barbaric acts of nightclub violence will stick the final boot in. A sobering culmination. And just like men beaten senselessly unconscious, the reader has to face the ensuing reality of the surfacing.
April 9, 2021
Where to start? Lairies is quite an experience - one that grabs you by the throat and does not put you down until the classiest of endings!
It starts with a violent episode on a night out and then leads us down the rabbit hole of multi-person narratives from the characters who were present, swapping back and forth between the run up to the incident and the fall out from the events of that fateful night.
Sounds simple, yes? But in fact, it is anything but. As in all the best stories using multiple points of view, everyone sees things slightly differently, coloured by their motives and experience. This unreliability is ramped up to the max by the way Steve Hollyman has the characters referring to each other by their surnames, first names, nick names and various shady terms of endearment or abuse throughout the book, and even though the chapter headings show you who is narrating at any one time, you are not sure exactly who is who, who did what to who, and what the connections between them are until very near the end of the novel, when the shocking truth about what happened that night comes spilling out. This is glorious storytelling that kept me guessing all the way through.
There is no getting away from the fact that there is a lot of very graphic violence in this book, accompanied by gratuitous swearing, but at no time does this feel too much. Every punch, kick and expletive has a part to play in the way the story plays out, and is used by great effect by Hollyman to explore the desperate search for purpose in the disaffected young men he is writing about. As an indictment of lad culture, small town hopelessness and toxic masculinity it is superb.
Imagine, if you will, a mash up between the violence of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; the surreal wtf epiphany country of Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club; the mad-cap drug fuelled, shouty road trip of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson; and the wonderful dark humour and camaraderie of Irvine Welsh's sublime Trainspotting books, and you might be approaching something like the incredible debut that Hollyman has crafted here.
For me, Irvine's Begbie will always be king, but there are some promising young pretenders to the crown here, and it was an absolute joy reading about them. I cannot recommend this one highly enough - if you are brave enough to take the plunge!
It starts with a violent episode on a night out and then leads us down the rabbit hole of multi-person narratives from the characters who were present, swapping back and forth between the run up to the incident and the fall out from the events of that fateful night.
Sounds simple, yes? But in fact, it is anything but. As in all the best stories using multiple points of view, everyone sees things slightly differently, coloured by their motives and experience. This unreliability is ramped up to the max by the way Steve Hollyman has the characters referring to each other by their surnames, first names, nick names and various shady terms of endearment or abuse throughout the book, and even though the chapter headings show you who is narrating at any one time, you are not sure exactly who is who, who did what to who, and what the connections between them are until very near the end of the novel, when the shocking truth about what happened that night comes spilling out. This is glorious storytelling that kept me guessing all the way through.
There is no getting away from the fact that there is a lot of very graphic violence in this book, accompanied by gratuitous swearing, but at no time does this feel too much. Every punch, kick and expletive has a part to play in the way the story plays out, and is used by great effect by Hollyman to explore the desperate search for purpose in the disaffected young men he is writing about. As an indictment of lad culture, small town hopelessness and toxic masculinity it is superb.
Imagine, if you will, a mash up between the violence of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; the surreal wtf epiphany country of Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club; the mad-cap drug fuelled, shouty road trip of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson; and the wonderful dark humour and camaraderie of Irvine Welsh's sublime Trainspotting books, and you might be approaching something like the incredible debut that Hollyman has crafted here.
For me, Irvine's Begbie will always be king, but there are some promising young pretenders to the crown here, and it was an absolute joy reading about them. I cannot recommend this one highly enough - if you are brave enough to take the plunge!
August 11, 2021
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘨. 𝘐𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘺. [...] 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘺: 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.
If you're American and, like me, have never heard the term 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 before, let me explain it; lairy, in this case, refers to a person who is aggressive, rowdy, maybe conceited.
This story follows the perspectives of three working class, young men in a small town in England. The one most connected to the title, Colbeck, creates the most momentum for the plot. He with his friend spend evenings trawling clubs waiting for someone to step out of line, get pushy with a woman, look at them funny so that they can step in and rectify the situation with fists or a broken bottle. This is a righteous calling, to rid their town of the plague of lairies and geezers. To clean up the streets with blood.
The story reads like the start to a roller coaster, escalating slowly like the ticking ascent up to the top of the drop. You want to slow down, turn back but you're no longer in control. Colbeck is a whirlwind, drawing the other two characters into his anger-fueled mania. Colbeck's perspective is told in second-person and that's a personal favorite of mine.
My biggest complaint is that there was a plot point that was impending for about three quarters of the book that I thought was so obvious that I became genuinely confused thinking I had missed something as it continued the pretense. That said, I did enjoy the reveal even though I saw it coming. I still felt that it aided in the plot's escalation.
If you're American and, like me, have never heard the term 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 before, let me explain it; lairy, in this case, refers to a person who is aggressive, rowdy, maybe conceited.
This story follows the perspectives of three working class, young men in a small town in England. The one most connected to the title, Colbeck, creates the most momentum for the plot. He with his friend spend evenings trawling clubs waiting for someone to step out of line, get pushy with a woman, look at them funny so that they can step in and rectify the situation with fists or a broken bottle. This is a righteous calling, to rid their town of the plague of lairies and geezers. To clean up the streets with blood.
The story reads like the start to a roller coaster, escalating slowly like the ticking ascent up to the top of the drop. You want to slow down, turn back but you're no longer in control. Colbeck is a whirlwind, drawing the other two characters into his anger-fueled mania. Colbeck's perspective is told in second-person and that's a personal favorite of mine.
My biggest complaint is that there was a plot point that was impending for about three quarters of the book that I thought was so obvious that I became genuinely confused thinking I had missed something as it continued the pretense. That said, I did enjoy the reveal even though I saw it coming. I still felt that it aided in the plot's escalation.
January 22, 2021
This books gave me Trainspotting vibes quite early on. Both books are similar in that they jump between multiple perspectives and some of the main characters could be described as misfits. So if you liked Trainspotting then you’ll most likely enjoy this too!
I loved that each perspective had a unique feel to it meaning you knew exactly which character’s perspective you were reading from without having to be told (although it does also tell you). The two perspectives I enjoyed the most were Colbeck’s and Duncan’s! Colbeck’s chapters were written in what I believe is a second person perspective which isn’t something you see often so I found that to be very interesting! With Duncan’s chapters we get Duncan acting as a narrator reflecting back on the events which have happened to him, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
Now this book features a lot of violence and explores how this affects those that inflict it, receive it and witness it. I found this exploration from the different angles to be really interesting! There is also a healthy dose of humour thorough out this book and you may also learn a new word , as one or two of the characters has quite the vocabulary! One thing that surprised me, was that at points I actually felt sorry for some of the characters who inflicted the violence, I think this highlights the brilliance of Hollyman’s writing and character development!
Overall an outstanding debut novel.
I loved that each perspective had a unique feel to it meaning you knew exactly which character’s perspective you were reading from without having to be told (although it does also tell you). The two perspectives I enjoyed the most were Colbeck’s and Duncan’s! Colbeck’s chapters were written in what I believe is a second person perspective which isn’t something you see often so I found that to be very interesting! With Duncan’s chapters we get Duncan acting as a narrator reflecting back on the events which have happened to him, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.
Now this book features a lot of violence and explores how this affects those that inflict it, receive it and witness it. I found this exploration from the different angles to be really interesting! There is also a healthy dose of humour thorough out this book and you may also learn a new word , as one or two of the characters has quite the vocabulary! One thing that surprised me, was that at points I actually felt sorry for some of the characters who inflicted the violence, I think this highlights the brilliance of Hollyman’s writing and character development!
Overall an outstanding debut novel.
October 25, 2021
Utterly brilliant! I listened to this on the Amazon audiobook and was hooked from the beginning. I love the “reverse calamity” structure – where you start with the disaster and essentially work your way back – and this book employed it to powerful effect. The structure compels the reader towards the awful event while keeping you guessing as to how it’s going to play out. A masterful use of the “withheld info” technique! At one point I was literally yelling at my Audible and tearing my hair out I was so desperate to know...
The characters were genuinely chilling, especially the twisted, comic ghoul that is Ade – a black hole at the centre of the book – but the author makes sure to spread more relatable humans among them as well into which we can project ourselves.
This is a dark, adrenal, thumping good read. But there’s also a serious discussion of the dangers of vigilantism here. At the heart of a book is a moral conundrum: if society is screwed, who should clean it up?
At a time when Covid has exposed serious societal fissures, the dangers of police cuts and public brutality, the appeal of “DIY justice” to society's fringes is perhaps more terrifying now than ever...
The characters were genuinely chilling, especially the twisted, comic ghoul that is Ade – a black hole at the centre of the book – but the author makes sure to spread more relatable humans among them as well into which we can project ourselves.
This is a dark, adrenal, thumping good read. But there’s also a serious discussion of the dangers of vigilantism here. At the heart of a book is a moral conundrum: if society is screwed, who should clean it up?
At a time when Covid has exposed serious societal fissures, the dangers of police cuts and public brutality, the appeal of “DIY justice” to society's fringes is perhaps more terrifying now than ever...
June 5, 2021
Lairies is a clawhammer assault in prose form. A tale of smalltown violence and toxic masculinity, the novel unfolds like a fever dream in which you are both appalled by and glued to the horrors which occur before you. It's the Ludovico Technique, if you applied your own eye calipers and administered your own drops. It also somehow manages to capture both the abhorrence and thrill of violence without ever glamourising it. This is truly visceral writing of bone-meets-flesh-meets-gristle and everything that comes before, during and after. And it's darkly funny too with vivid, unique characterization developed through superb dialogue. I can't ever remember reading a novel which perfectly captures the power dynamics and hierarchies of hyper-masculine "Bants", the likes of which wouldn't be out of place in the stage or cinematic works of Mamet, Pinter or Tarantino. This is a chunky novel but you don't notice the length: it's the quickest of reads, aided by its multi-character narration, alternating timelines and taut pacing. A bold, brash, brawler of a book.
February 4, 2021
What a Fantastic read this is. Lairies, set in 2003 is the Uber violent and powerful story of a group of angry violent lads.
Almost drifting in life, Ade, Colbeck and Dunc live for the drink, the drugs, the clubs and fighting. Brutal chaotic angry violence.
Being around the same age of these lads at the time, this brilliant debut from Steve Hollyman really connected with me.
It’s full of adrenaline, it’s Riotously angry. It’s also very funny at times which cuts through the violence.
The book is written in alternating chapters and is a character led story that explores the lives of these frustrated and perhaps lost young men and the consequences of their actions.
It’s hard not to feel a Trainspotting vibe throughout but this is its own extremely good book.
The story flows to a quite stunning and explosive finale.
Absolutely Brilliant
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Almost drifting in life, Ade, Colbeck and Dunc live for the drink, the drugs, the clubs and fighting. Brutal chaotic angry violence.
Being around the same age of these lads at the time, this brilliant debut from Steve Hollyman really connected with me.
It’s full of adrenaline, it’s Riotously angry. It’s also very funny at times which cuts through the violence.
The book is written in alternating chapters and is a character led story that explores the lives of these frustrated and perhaps lost young men and the consequences of their actions.
It’s hard not to feel a Trainspotting vibe throughout but this is its own extremely good book.
The story flows to a quite stunning and explosive finale.
Absolutely Brilliant
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
December 18, 2022
"You are soaked to the bone and you don't care. Your nose and your chuckles are throbbing, and you can feel the blood pumping in your temples and crunching in your ear canals. For a brief moment back there, as kick followed punch followed stamp, you lost yourself. The world went away, and there was nothing but the furious silence between the screams."
What a thrilling read. At first I thought it would be exhausting to spend so much time inside the minds of a bunch of guys who constantly swear and insult and who are filled with a sort of insatiable hatred of society and the world - but underneath toxic masculinity and such obscenities there is a vulnerability which is utterly heartbreaking to observe. It is a story about class and about failure and hurtful relationships and a fateful night which changes everything.
What a thrilling read. At first I thought it would be exhausting to spend so much time inside the minds of a bunch of guys who constantly swear and insult and who are filled with a sort of insatiable hatred of society and the world - but underneath toxic masculinity and such obscenities there is a vulnerability which is utterly heartbreaking to observe. It is a story about class and about failure and hurtful relationships and a fateful night which changes everything.
April 4, 2021
A brutal story of three friends, two of whom practice a sort of vigilante ultraviolence, woven with two other stories of apparently unrelated people, one of whom has just woken up in hospital with no memory of how he ended up there. It soon becomes clear that the multiple threads of the story are going to collide in some sort of horrific conclusion, and from that point on I found it unputdownable.
April 30, 2021
Wow what a book!!! Hits you full in the face, grips you by the throat and never lets you go. We follow a bunch of likely lads who just want to have some fun.... even if it involves some fighting and of course drinking.
This is a searing portrayal of whats been happening across towns in the North of England, how lives become desperate and small. My heart bled for these characters especially one. You grow to love em even if you probably wouldn’t if you met them. This book is superb.
This is a searing portrayal of whats been happening across towns in the North of England, how lives become desperate and small. My heart bled for these characters especially one. You grow to love em even if you probably wouldn’t if you met them. This book is superb.
April 17, 2021
Fantastic debut by Steve Hollyman. A superb read that will complete engross you. Set in the early noughties, it is set around a violent incident in a nightclub.It is a story of male violence and bravado and weakness told with deftness and skill. Brilliantly written, and completely enthralling. Rattled through it in a few days and this will stick with me.
April 29, 2021
Full-on page turner. Fantastic first novel.
October 28, 2022
The best book I've read in years. Grim and brutal, with some pretty nasty characters but a truly unput-downable read.
January 13, 2024
I almost didn't read Hollyman's first book Lairies after being disappointed with/annoyed by Esc & Ctrl, but considering it took more than a year (thanks to Brexit for contributing to the destruction of culture) for me to actually receive my copies of these two books, I felt I needed to read them both after waiting so long. And while Lairies owes a heavy debt to Trainspotting and A Clockwork Orange—with a dash of Fight Club—it has an immediacy and authenticity in which Esc & Ctrl (particularly its New York sections) was sorely lacking. It is a grim and violent—and rather laddish—book, but intricately plotted and peopled with compelling and (depressingly, admittedly) realistic characters.
If you're interested, here's my review of Esc & Ctrl:
Two maxims come to mind in regards to with this book: Show Don't Tell and Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover.
When it comes to the latter, the nicely minimalistic cover and the typographical layout are actually (unfortunately) the best things about the book. And that first maxim is raised by the metafictional, intertextual narrative in which the author(s) comment in footnotes on the primary text. Which not only disrupts the narrative (which, having read enough writers like David Foster Wallace or John Barth, I didn't really have so much of an issue with) but, more problematically, doesn't allow the reader to come to their own conclusions about the text...demands them, more or less, to agree with the interpretations being espoused in the footnotes...essentially, the reader is being told what to consider important or surprising or shocking...being told what to think...which makes it seem as if Hollyman is both showing and telling.
I think this book might have worked as a short story rather than a 300+ page novel. The conceit of the novel is interesting enough, as the narrative and authorial realities collapse in on themselves, but the actual content of both the primary and the frame narratives seems stretched thin and not especially engaging.
If you're interested, here's my review of Esc & Ctrl:
Two maxims come to mind in regards to with this book: Show Don't Tell and Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover.
When it comes to the latter, the nicely minimalistic cover and the typographical layout are actually (unfortunately) the best things about the book. And that first maxim is raised by the metafictional, intertextual narrative in which the author(s) comment in footnotes on the primary text. Which not only disrupts the narrative (which, having read enough writers like David Foster Wallace or John Barth, I didn't really have so much of an issue with) but, more problematically, doesn't allow the reader to come to their own conclusions about the text...demands them, more or less, to agree with the interpretations being espoused in the footnotes...essentially, the reader is being told what to consider important or surprising or shocking...being told what to think...which makes it seem as if Hollyman is both showing and telling.
I think this book might have worked as a short story rather than a 300+ page novel. The conceit of the novel is interesting enough, as the narrative and authorial realities collapse in on themselves, but the actual content of both the primary and the frame narratives seems stretched thin and not especially engaging.
November 24, 2024
unexpected five star !
July 17, 2025
Fucking wow. Growing up in east London and reading this is..yeah. yeah you got it right.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews