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Mystery Man #2
The Day of the Jack Russell
Black Books meets Lead Balloon meets Gavin and Stacey.
The Small Shop Keeper With No Name is back. Hired to find the vandals responsible for spraying graffiti on an aspiring insurance magnate's advertising hoarding, he soon finds himself up to his ears in intrigue and battling to solve murders which echo in the corridors of power. With MI5 getting involved and everyone on the hunt for a missing Jack Russell, can Our Man Behind the Counter stay alive as well as keep his world renowned but criminally ignored No Alibis mystery bookshop afloat?
The Small Shop Keeper With No Name is back. Hired to find the vandals responsible for spraying graffiti on an aspiring insurance magnate's advertising hoarding, he soon finds himself up to his ears in intrigue and battling to solve murders which echo in the corridors of power. With MI5 getting involved and everyone on the hunt for a missing Jack Russell, can Our Man Behind the Counter stay alive as well as keep his world renowned but criminally ignored No Alibis mystery bookshop afloat?
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
20 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Colin Bateman
77 books351 followersColin Bateman was a journalist in Northern Ireland before becoming a full-time writer. His first novel, Divorcing Jack, won the Betty Trask Prize, and all his novels have been critically acclaimed. He wrote the screenplays for the feature films of Divorcing Jack, Crossmaheart and Wild About Harry. He lives in Northern Ireland with his family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
July 30, 2019
[7/10]
My reputation was clearly growing. Booksellers who use their expertise to solve baffling crimes are pretty thin on the ground. In fact, booksellers are pretty thin on the ground. Indeed, I am pretty thin on the ground, thanks to my diet, and allergies, and incurable diseases, and broken heart, and the economy.
The Mystery Man is back. We still don’t know his name (it’s a first person narrative), but he can be found behind the counter at the “No Alibi” mystery bookshop in Belfast, ready to sell you a rare pulp from the golden era or to engage in some unorthodox private investigation.
This is the second book in the series and, although it is written to be read easily as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading the first episode before tackling this one. There are simply too many references to past events and to secondary characters that would make more sense if you are already familiar with the setting.
The smell of blood and innards and desperation was thick in the air, tobacco smoke clung to coats and beards, and puddles of vomit mixed with Guinness spillages to produce an odd moonwalking effect as we pushed through the crowds ...
In case you are wondering, the description here is of a visit to a poetry reading evening. Mystery Man is not so keen on poets, who are, generally speaking, an extraordinarily wilful, selfish, egotistical, drunken, back-stabbing bunch of layabouts, and that’s just the published ones. . He is not so keen an anybody but himself actually, which is a major source of the jokes in the book. Which is still funny as hell despite occasionally making Mystery Man sound like he has a one track mind in need of a new comedy routine. As a hypochondriac psychopath, I compared him first to Norman Bates and Sheldon Cooper. I am now beginning too see some traces of Ignatius Jacques Reilly, in an anorexic Irish re-incarnation. It’s probably the first person narration and the fact that we get to meet Mystery Man’s mother. Finally!
Books are like women. They can be hard on the outside, or they can be soft. They can be fat, they can be thin. They can be funny, they can be serious. They can be utterly demented. There can be lots of sex, there can be no sex at all. Some books might tease you along with the promise of sex but ultimately chicken out. Trying to read more than one at a time can be dangerous. And when you’re finished with a book, you can put it in a box in the attic.
I’m sorta scared to find out what kind of stuff Mystery Man keeps in the attic. It’s a miracle that he managed to get such an enchanting and smart girlfriend like Alison. One of the great mysteries of life. Not that I’m complaining, because Alison and his part-time employee Jeff provide a very welcome relief from spending too much time inside our Mystery Man’s paranoid head.
Alison was snoring gently, and I was thinking about what would happen if I pinched her nose. And covered her mouth. The head is so full of holes, and the ear, nose and throat are supposedly connected; you would wonder why it isn’t possible to breathe through your ears.
If I haven’t said anything about the actual investigation, it’s because I consider the series to be character driven and more concerned with comedy routines than with the actual murders. I do find it clever the way Bateman pushes the story forward while allowing Mystery Man to go on a deranged rant on almost every page. His dialogues with Alison are also among the highlights of the episode.
Less memorable is the investigation itself, one that starts from an initial case of street vandalism (The Case of the Cock-Headed Man) and morphs later into to a Big Government conspiracy. It all revolves around a missing Jack Russell terrier, and it ends explosively
I was going to rate this an easy three stars for a fun holiday read with snappy jokes, but there are a couple of intriguing literary references that convinced me Bateman is a much better writer than his coarse humour would led you to believe. One is a mention of a British pastor, Ronald Knox, who wrote in 1929 ten commandments that every mystery story had to adhere to in order to not stretch the bounds of credulity. Mystery Man uses his Decalog like sailors on the sea use a compass.
They are still pretty relevant, not only to crime fiction, but to the real, actual investigation of a crime. They hauled me back to the plausible when my inclination sometimes allowed me to consider that aliens or Romanians may be responsible.
I would like to reassure Mr. Bateman that I Didn’t Do It!, although it is nice to find out that Belfast is interested in me and my countrymen. I also like the love of genre fiction that shines through the text, and I will recommend again John Dunning, like in the review of the first book of the series, for those who like bookseller gumshoes.
I was no longer capable of being surprised at the lengths to which some people would go to befuddle me.
But I laugh in the face of befuddlement.
If anything, a lifetime immersed in the murky world of mystery fiction has perfectly equipped me for dealing with real-life shenanigans. There is scarcely a twist or turn even the most devious mind could conjure up that I have not already encountered between hard or soft covers.
My last quote is one in thanks to the author for pointing me in the direction of Max Ehrman and his ‘Desiderata’. Peace!
‘With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.’
My reputation was clearly growing. Booksellers who use their expertise to solve baffling crimes are pretty thin on the ground. In fact, booksellers are pretty thin on the ground. Indeed, I am pretty thin on the ground, thanks to my diet, and allergies, and incurable diseases, and broken heart, and the economy.
The Mystery Man is back. We still don’t know his name (it’s a first person narrative), but he can be found behind the counter at the “No Alibi” mystery bookshop in Belfast, ready to sell you a rare pulp from the golden era or to engage in some unorthodox private investigation.
This is the second book in the series and, although it is written to be read easily as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading the first episode before tackling this one. There are simply too many references to past events and to secondary characters that would make more sense if you are already familiar with the setting.
The smell of blood and innards and desperation was thick in the air, tobacco smoke clung to coats and beards, and puddles of vomit mixed with Guinness spillages to produce an odd moonwalking effect as we pushed through the crowds ...
In case you are wondering, the description here is of a visit to a poetry reading evening. Mystery Man is not so keen on poets, who are, generally speaking, an extraordinarily wilful, selfish, egotistical, drunken, back-stabbing bunch of layabouts, and that’s just the published ones. . He is not so keen an anybody but himself actually, which is a major source of the jokes in the book. Which is still funny as hell despite occasionally making Mystery Man sound like he has a one track mind in need of a new comedy routine. As a hypochondriac psychopath, I compared him first to Norman Bates and Sheldon Cooper. I am now beginning too see some traces of Ignatius Jacques Reilly, in an anorexic Irish re-incarnation. It’s probably the first person narration and the fact that we get to meet Mystery Man’s mother. Finally!
Books are like women. They can be hard on the outside, or they can be soft. They can be fat, they can be thin. They can be funny, they can be serious. They can be utterly demented. There can be lots of sex, there can be no sex at all. Some books might tease you along with the promise of sex but ultimately chicken out. Trying to read more than one at a time can be dangerous. And when you’re finished with a book, you can put it in a box in the attic.
I’m sorta scared to find out what kind of stuff Mystery Man keeps in the attic. It’s a miracle that he managed to get such an enchanting and smart girlfriend like Alison. One of the great mysteries of life. Not that I’m complaining, because Alison and his part-time employee Jeff provide a very welcome relief from spending too much time inside our Mystery Man’s paranoid head.
Alison was snoring gently, and I was thinking about what would happen if I pinched her nose. And covered her mouth. The head is so full of holes, and the ear, nose and throat are supposedly connected; you would wonder why it isn’t possible to breathe through your ears.
If I haven’t said anything about the actual investigation, it’s because I consider the series to be character driven and more concerned with comedy routines than with the actual murders. I do find it clever the way Bateman pushes the story forward while allowing Mystery Man to go on a deranged rant on almost every page. His dialogues with Alison are also among the highlights of the episode.
Less memorable is the investigation itself, one that starts from an initial case of street vandalism (The Case of the Cock-Headed Man) and morphs later into to a Big Government conspiracy. It all revolves around a missing Jack Russell terrier, and it ends explosively
I was going to rate this an easy three stars for a fun holiday read with snappy jokes, but there are a couple of intriguing literary references that convinced me Bateman is a much better writer than his coarse humour would led you to believe. One is a mention of a British pastor, Ronald Knox, who wrote in 1929 ten commandments that every mystery story had to adhere to in order to not stretch the bounds of credulity. Mystery Man uses his Decalog like sailors on the sea use a compass.
They are still pretty relevant, not only to crime fiction, but to the real, actual investigation of a crime. They hauled me back to the plausible when my inclination sometimes allowed me to consider that aliens or Romanians may be responsible.
I would like to reassure Mr. Bateman that I Didn’t Do It!, although it is nice to find out that Belfast is interested in me and my countrymen. I also like the love of genre fiction that shines through the text, and I will recommend again John Dunning, like in the review of the first book of the series, for those who like bookseller gumshoes.
I was no longer capable of being surprised at the lengths to which some people would go to befuddle me.
But I laugh in the face of befuddlement.
If anything, a lifetime immersed in the murky world of mystery fiction has perfectly equipped me for dealing with real-life shenanigans. There is scarcely a twist or turn even the most devious mind could conjure up that I have not already encountered between hard or soft covers.
My last quote is one in thanks to the author for pointing me in the direction of Max Ehrman and his ‘Desiderata’. Peace!
‘With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.’
January 12, 2015
“The Day of The Jack Russell” by Colin Bateman can perhaps be easily confused with another book with a similar title “The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth. And this amazing cosmic coincidence does not end there. Both books are written by male authors. Both books have plots. However In May 2010, Colin Bateman won the Crimefest Last Laugh Award for his novel The Day of the Jack Russell and Forsyth did not, which leads me to believe the Bateman book is funnier than the Forsyth.
This is the second book in the Mystery Man series which is comic and full of humor as well as literary references. The story begins when into the ‘mystery man’s’ Belfast book shop enters a man named Billy Randall who runs a low cost airline. He has been made fun of on YouTube by a couple of young men who have pornographically altered his features on an advertising billboard in town. Randall wants 'mystery man' to discover who the men are so he can deal with them. Also The stuffed dog (a Jack Russell) of the towns Chief Constable has been stolen.
The ‘mystery man’ along with Alison (his now pregnant girl friend) and Jeff his lazy bookshop assistant and Amnesty International supporter, he investigates the crimes along with many trips to Starbucks.
This is an excellent addition to the series and quite a fun read.
This is the second book in the Mystery Man series which is comic and full of humor as well as literary references. The story begins when into the ‘mystery man’s’ Belfast book shop enters a man named Billy Randall who runs a low cost airline. He has been made fun of on YouTube by a couple of young men who have pornographically altered his features on an advertising billboard in town. Randall wants 'mystery man' to discover who the men are so he can deal with them. Also The stuffed dog (a Jack Russell) of the towns Chief Constable has been stolen.
The ‘mystery man’ along with Alison (his now pregnant girl friend) and Jeff his lazy bookshop assistant and Amnesty International supporter, he investigates the crimes along with many trips to Starbucks.
This is an excellent addition to the series and quite a fun read.
August 10, 2025
English version below
*****************
Zunächst war ich sehr interessiert an dieser Geschichte über einen Krimibuchhändler in Belfast. Vor allem der schon bösartige schwarze Humor gefiel mir sehr.
Als dann mir der Zeit sich allerdings der Tonfall nicht änderte, sondern eher verschäfte und ich den Protagonisten näher kennenlernte, verging mir recht bald die Lust. Der Protagonist ist ein unglaublich egomanischer, bemerkenswert hypochondrischer und extrem unliebenswürdiger, selbstsüchtiger Kotzbrocken, der die Verantwortung absolut immer bei anderen sucht, sich dabei aber ständig im Recht sieht.
Für mich war das sehr bald nicht mehr lustig und unterhaltsam, sondern nur noch nervig.
Daher habe ich nach 73 Seiten das Handtuch geworfen und das Buch abgebrochen.
----------------
At first, I was very interested in this story about a mystery book dealer in Belfast. I particularly liked the malicious black humour.
However, as time went on and the tone did not change but rather became more intense, and I got to know the protagonist better, I quickly lost interest. The protagonist is an incredibly egomaniacal, remarkably hypochondriacal and extremely unlikable, selfish jerk who always blames others for everything, but constantly sees himself as being in the right.
For me, it very quickly ceased to be funny and entertaining and became just annoying.
So after 73 pages, I threw in the towel and stopped reading the book.
*****************
Zunächst war ich sehr interessiert an dieser Geschichte über einen Krimibuchhändler in Belfast. Vor allem der schon bösartige schwarze Humor gefiel mir sehr.
Als dann mir der Zeit sich allerdings der Tonfall nicht änderte, sondern eher verschäfte und ich den Protagonisten näher kennenlernte, verging mir recht bald die Lust. Der Protagonist ist ein unglaublich egomanischer, bemerkenswert hypochondrischer und extrem unliebenswürdiger, selbstsüchtiger Kotzbrocken, der die Verantwortung absolut immer bei anderen sucht, sich dabei aber ständig im Recht sieht.
Für mich war das sehr bald nicht mehr lustig und unterhaltsam, sondern nur noch nervig.
Daher habe ich nach 73 Seiten das Handtuch geworfen und das Buch abgebrochen.
----------------
At first, I was very interested in this story about a mystery book dealer in Belfast. I particularly liked the malicious black humour.
However, as time went on and the tone did not change but rather became more intense, and I got to know the protagonist better, I quickly lost interest. The protagonist is an incredibly egomaniacal, remarkably hypochondriacal and extremely unlikable, selfish jerk who always blames others for everything, but constantly sees himself as being in the right.
For me, it very quickly ceased to be funny and entertaining and became just annoying.
So after 73 pages, I threw in the towel and stopped reading the book.
August 13, 2013
Well, as with the last Bateman I read, this book was OK. It was funny, reasonably interesting, and actually made me laught out loud a few times.
The problem with it, as with the last one, is that central mystery was over written, drawn out, and not particularly captivating. In Mystery Man, I loved the short, pithy cases at the start of the novel, and these were lacking from TDOTJR, so I was left with a rambling, over complicated 'mystery' that wasn't even properly solved, after all the investigating that I'd ploughed through. The three kidnappings (two of the same character) and various 'dangerous men' - there were at least three - a crime lord, a corrupt copper and a rogue MI5 agent, confused the plot so much that thought I knew what was going on, I didn't care that much. Too many elements, too many ingredients, and it all led to an unsatisfying end.
The relationship between the protagonist and Alison was even more confused than in the last novel, and Alison herself comes off as bipolar or schitzophrenic.
It gets points for being very very funny, but that's about it. The mystery element isn't that interesting, and I much prefered the smaller 'domestic' cases to the large, drawn out one in this novel.
The problem with it, as with the last one, is that central mystery was over written, drawn out, and not particularly captivating. In Mystery Man, I loved the short, pithy cases at the start of the novel, and these were lacking from TDOTJR, so I was left with a rambling, over complicated 'mystery' that wasn't even properly solved, after all the investigating that I'd ploughed through. The three kidnappings (two of the same character) and various 'dangerous men' - there were at least three - a crime lord, a corrupt copper and a rogue MI5 agent, confused the plot so much that thought I knew what was going on, I didn't care that much. Too many elements, too many ingredients, and it all led to an unsatisfying end.
The relationship between the protagonist and Alison was even more confused than in the last novel, and Alison herself comes off as bipolar or schitzophrenic.
It gets points for being very very funny, but that's about it. The mystery element isn't that interesting, and I much prefered the smaller 'domestic' cases to the large, drawn out one in this novel.
November 19, 2025
3 stars for me.
Another book that was weird,funny and bizzare.His Mother do exist and she's a real piece,without her there would be no story.In a weird way I liked this book.
Another book that was weird,funny and bizzare.His Mother do exist and she's a real piece,without her there would be no story.In a weird way I liked this book.
July 4, 2012
I adored the first novel in this series about the 'Mystery Man' who runs a crime fiction bookshop cum private detective agency in Belfast. And I picked up this next book in the series for some light-reading and distraction.
Bateman does not disappoint. I got far, far more entertainment than I bargained for and had several uncontrollable, laugh-out-loud moments in embarrassing public places.
The un-named main character is a wonderful cross between Sherlock Holmes and the autistic, fifteen year-old narrator in Mark Haddon's The Curious incident of the dead dog in the night. Supported by his enthusiastic girlfriend, Alison, and his long-suffering shop assistant, Geoff, our book-loving hypochondriac solves the mysteries of a double murder and the disappearance of a stuffed Jack Russell dog. He outsmarts the drug dealers, the Ulster Constabulary and MI6, while neatly side-stepping all elements of personal danger and possible infection.
Bateman is an outstanding writer of comic novels - and he's pretty darned good at crime fiction too. A great combination. I can't wait to read the next one.
Bateman does not disappoint. I got far, far more entertainment than I bargained for and had several uncontrollable, laugh-out-loud moments in embarrassing public places.
The un-named main character is a wonderful cross between Sherlock Holmes and the autistic, fifteen year-old narrator in Mark Haddon's The Curious incident of the dead dog in the night. Supported by his enthusiastic girlfriend, Alison, and his long-suffering shop assistant, Geoff, our book-loving hypochondriac solves the mysteries of a double murder and the disappearance of a stuffed Jack Russell dog. He outsmarts the drug dealers, the Ulster Constabulary and MI6, while neatly side-stepping all elements of personal danger and possible infection.
Bateman is an outstanding writer of comic novels - and he's pretty darned good at crime fiction too. A great combination. I can't wait to read the next one.
May 2, 2020
The second in the series of the Mystery Man books, where the 'No Alibis', hypochondriac gets hired to find out who painted a cartoon phallus on a roadside advertising board and then linked it to go viral on the internet. As a result of this case Mystery Man gets caught up in a murder, where a stuffed Jack Russell seems to be the one thing that gangsters, victim's relatives, the police and the MI5 want! And despite sounding really funny, it is nowhere near as funny as the first and third books in the mini-series, although the banter between the main characters continues to be quite humorous. 3 out of 12.
November 7, 2011
Okay, this is the second book in the "Mystery Man" series. It has been six weeks since our unnamed hero solved The Case of the Dnacing Jews. He has since started to build a reputation and is still solving small cases (as well as trying to sell his books at extortionate prices in his shop, No Alibis). However, work seem to have dried up and he is hardly getting any customers in his shop. That is until The Case of the Cock-Headed Man lands on his doorstep. Although that is solved quickly, Mystery Man soon finds himself in a mixture of double murder, conspiracy and why is everyine obsessed with that stuffed Jack Russell?
Compared to "Mystery Man", I found this book frustrating. Bateman pulls us into the bizarre mind of Mystery Man so deep it is difficult to get out of. What seems to be a case of Norman Bates syndrome in the first book (a shy man with a few problems and a nasty mum), a new Mystery Man comes to light in this book: a seriously hypochrondriac with OCD and is very laddish. I mean, very laddish. He is in fact, very insensitive and quite shallow and callous.
Still, this book is very darkly funny. You become drawn into the case wondering who did it but please, this is Mr Bateman. It is never simple when it comes to his crime fiction. This author really makes you think (when usually you can figure it out before the protagonost does). Bateman tries very hard to be clever but compared to "Divorcing Jack", it is quite a difficult read and comprehend but it is good. Very good. Go read now!
Compared to "Mystery Man", I found this book frustrating. Bateman pulls us into the bizarre mind of Mystery Man so deep it is difficult to get out of. What seems to be a case of Norman Bates syndrome in the first book (a shy man with a few problems and a nasty mum), a new Mystery Man comes to light in this book: a seriously hypochrondriac with OCD and is very laddish. I mean, very laddish. He is in fact, very insensitive and quite shallow and callous.
Still, this book is very darkly funny. You become drawn into the case wondering who did it but please, this is Mr Bateman. It is never simple when it comes to his crime fiction. This author really makes you think (when usually you can figure it out before the protagonost does). Bateman tries very hard to be clever but compared to "Divorcing Jack", it is quite a difficult read and comprehend but it is good. Very good. Go read now!
September 17, 2011
I'm the first to admit that my appreciation of a book is affected by how I've enjoyed an author's previous works and I'll sometimes give a below par book the benefit of the doubt if I've found a previous story to be top notch - not so objective I know, but enjoying fiction is pretty subjective (unless you are studying literature for a qualification, so having said that... I've very much enjoyed Colin Bateman's earlier works and wait for it.... I also like this one! A lot actually. It's funny and a fast read that I rampaged through. It won't let you down if you've come across Bateman before but I'd say to read 'Mystery Man' before this one for continuity reasons.
September 9, 2014
As someone else said, "occasionally a little childish." What they were referring to was passages such as the following discussion between the Nameless Protagonist and his Pregnant Girlfriend:
PG- "You're a miserable little shit."
NP- "So's your face."
PG- "That doesn't make sense."
NP- "Neither does your face."
PG- "You're a big baby."
NP- "So's your face."
PG- "Shut up."
NP- "Shut up your face."
And so it goes, for pages at a time.
If you can tolerate that, there's a pseudo-Agatha Christie story as well, complete with dramatic unveiling of the murderer at a funeral, one which almost comes off, but not quite.
PG- "You're a miserable little shit."
NP- "So's your face."
PG- "That doesn't make sense."
NP- "Neither does your face."
PG- "You're a big baby."
NP- "So's your face."
PG- "Shut up."
NP- "Shut up your face."
And so it goes, for pages at a time.
If you can tolerate that, there's a pseudo-Agatha Christie story as well, complete with dramatic unveiling of the murderer at a funeral, one which almost comes off, but not quite.
February 6, 2012
Genre: Mystery, humor
I listened to this book.
The Day of the Jack Russell is the first book by Colin Bateman that I've read. It will not be the last. I clicked with his sense of humor, which I enjoyed more than the mystery. Highly recommend!
Stephen Armstrong does a great job narrating!
Oh, and one last thing: So's your face ;-)
I listened to this book.
The Day of the Jack Russell is the first book by Colin Bateman that I've read. It will not be the last. I clicked with his sense of humor, which I enjoyed more than the mystery. Highly recommend!
Stephen Armstrong does a great job narrating!
Oh, and one last thing: So's your face ;-)
November 27, 2010
Like Mystery Man before it, this book made me Laugh Out Loud. At the train station, on the train, on the tube, in the pub...cracked me up and made me look like a mentalist in front of the general public. Brilliant!
September 4, 2021
2.5 stars
I would have preferred this as a book but audio was the only version available in my library. Narrator Stephen Armstrong has the accent but does not, unfortunately, bring much more than that to the reading of the book. He doesn't do a lot to distinguish different characters so in scenes with more than two it could be difficult to keep track of who was saying what.
I will give him this, though. Listening to Armstrong voice the unnamed protagonist, particularly when reciting the litany of things he finds objectionable - the endless lists of things to which he is allergic, his medical ailments, his dislike of basically everyone and everything - really drives home the reality of what it must be like for not just the character but also for anyone having to deal with him.
It's easier when reading to slip past that, I think. You see more clearly how and when Bateman is pushing the character's issues to more of an extreme to highlight the absurdity of it all and get a few laughs. Bateman does a really good job playing up that side of the character while also depicting a man who is clearly mentally ill and overwhelmed by everything around him. Hearing the latter play out makes the reality of the character's issue harder to ignore or laugh at.
It doesn't make the character any less aggravating, though. In fact, I wanted to reach out any number of times and just smack him right in the back of the head. Like, just shut up dude, for five minutes, please.
This no doubt influenced how I reacted to the story itself. I confess to skipping through some parts because of the tangents the character could go off on, and I didn't have the patience at the time to listen to any more of his absurd ruminations. Bateman turns in a suitably layered plot but I agree with a few other reviewers who preferred the style of the first book wherein the longer main case was set against a few shorter ones. It was something a bit different that I think worked for the book as a whole, and I enjoyed the silliness and lighter tone of those cases. It was a nice way to just take a break from the main plot.
And by the end of this book, I definitely needed a break from the character. I'll be sticking to reading the rest of this series.
I would have preferred this as a book but audio was the only version available in my library. Narrator Stephen Armstrong has the accent but does not, unfortunately, bring much more than that to the reading of the book. He doesn't do a lot to distinguish different characters so in scenes with more than two it could be difficult to keep track of who was saying what.
I will give him this, though. Listening to Armstrong voice the unnamed protagonist, particularly when reciting the litany of things he finds objectionable - the endless lists of things to which he is allergic, his medical ailments, his dislike of basically everyone and everything - really drives home the reality of what it must be like for not just the character but also for anyone having to deal with him.
It's easier when reading to slip past that, I think. You see more clearly how and when Bateman is pushing the character's issues to more of an extreme to highlight the absurdity of it all and get a few laughs. Bateman does a really good job playing up that side of the character while also depicting a man who is clearly mentally ill and overwhelmed by everything around him. Hearing the latter play out makes the reality of the character's issue harder to ignore or laugh at.
It doesn't make the character any less aggravating, though. In fact, I wanted to reach out any number of times and just smack him right in the back of the head. Like, just shut up dude, for five minutes, please.
This no doubt influenced how I reacted to the story itself. I confess to skipping through some parts because of the tangents the character could go off on, and I didn't have the patience at the time to listen to any more of his absurd ruminations. Bateman turns in a suitably layered plot but I agree with a few other reviewers who preferred the style of the first book wherein the longer main case was set against a few shorter ones. It was something a bit different that I think worked for the book as a whole, and I enjoyed the silliness and lighter tone of those cases. It was a nice way to just take a break from the main plot.
And by the end of this book, I definitely needed a break from the character. I'll be sticking to reading the rest of this series.
September 18, 2025
I picked this up from a telephone box library because the title caught my eye and a reading challenge I follow had the theme of pets this month, so this fit the bill perfectly. I’ve never come across this author and hadn’t realised it was the second in a series. It may have helped to have read the first one, but this did stand quite well on its own. I liked the premise of the story, an owner of a book store specialising in crime novels turns detective. I quite liked the humour even if at times it was a little on the childish side, however the mystery seemed to drag on and I wasn’t overly happy with the ending.
June 26, 2018
This is the first of Bateman's book that I have read, and despite not being the first featuring the bookseller with no name it was isn't enough to pick up. It was an enjoyable "listen" though I felt the actor reading the book could have made more of an effort to distinguish between the character voices. It became difficult at times to realize who was saying what. Other than that I enjoyed it, despite the main character being wholly unlikeable. Actually, none of the characters were. I've already adding Dr Yes to my list and hoping that maybe the voice characterization may have improved.
January 27, 2019
Still funny, the main character's Irish take on Woody Allen grows a bit fatiguing in this second offering. And even as I read this one, I lost track of what was going on and even who was who. Not that I cared much. When I previously hit a "huh?" moment, I would go back and try to figure out what was going on. Not so much by the end of this one. I was ready to move on long before the book officially ended.
November 3, 2018
This is a fun read. I couldn't fully get into the story mainly because of the main character and all his hypochondriac symptoms or other maladies that he kept talking about in first person during the story over and over and over again.
This is the first book that I read by Bateman so maybe I just need to get used to his writing style.
I still found it to be a fun read and humorous at times.
This is the first book that I read by Bateman so maybe I just need to get used to his writing style.
I still found it to be a fun read and humorous at times.
July 13, 2020
BRILLIANT book - enjoyed every minute of it. Particularly enjoyed the further development of the main characters and the main guys detective skills and Colin Batemans writing style is so funny and unique. Only thing I'd say is the actual mystery and its resolution was kind of a bit less believable but still.Cant wait to read the next one in the Mystery Man series!
July 3, 2024
This book is very humorous and did make me chuckle a bit out loud on a few occasions, however there isn’t much else to it. The story just simply isn’t very good and is so ridiculously drawn out for no reason, I feel like barely anything happened by the time I finished it. Perhaps the style just isn’t for me but I found it unsatisfactory.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2018
Love his sense of humour
The second in the Mystery Man series. Love the central character who you can never form a mental picture of as Bateman will always throw another ailment into the mix. Funny, clever and absorbing. Good book
The second in the Mystery Man series. Love the central character who you can never form a mental picture of as Bateman will always throw another ailment into the mix. Funny, clever and absorbing. Good book
January 17, 2017
3.5. Fun mystery featuring a bookseller-sleuth, who owns a mystery bookstore. Great characters and unexpected ending.
November 20, 2017
enjoyable dark humour. The book shop detective is back
July 7, 2018
So funny. I love his writing.
May 22, 2019
Very funny in places love the list's of everyuthing including his illnesses. looking forward to reading the next one
June 25, 2019
Dark humour. Fabulous.
March 29, 2020
Just such good fun!
April 13, 2020
I enjoyed the first novel in this series and so naturally went to this next. It is a quirky, humorous thriller which is refreshing to read . I really love the supporting characters such as Jeff the hapless shop assistant. On to the third one!
September 12, 2020
Not bad, but not as good as Mystery Man.
Fast moving engaging story, but it was sadly missing the wit and edge of the first book.
Fast moving engaging story, but it was sadly missing the wit and edge of the first book.
February 1, 2021
each better than the last
April 6, 2021
Listened through audio .. loved it .. laugh out loud moments .. dark comedy and brill
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