Cycle of Violence

by Colin Bateman

Transferred from the downtown Belfast newspaper to the belaguered Crossmarket outpost, bicycling journalist Miller learns that he has replaced a missing reporter and finds more trouble when he fall for his predecessor's girlfriend

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Irish Literature, Crime, Ireland, Mystery, Comedy

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Colin 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.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm. I don't know about this one. It was alright, I guess. Not spectacular or violent as I mistakenly gleaned from the title.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cycle of violence is the bike Miller uses to get around Belfast after he loses his license. After he gets drunk and mouths off at the newspaper office where he works, he gets sent to a village called Crossmaheart, where the best assassin in Ulster is a hairdresser, nobody talks to the police, and his predecessor at the paper disappeared into thin air, as many people did during this time of Troubles.

[Mikkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuck. I'm a Bateman fan, but honestly, this might be his best book I've read so far. It is amazingly easy to read, the pages turn themselves, that's no surprise. He's always been able to do that. But it's the gut punch, the emotional impact it has that I really did not see coming.

[Keith Stopforth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Colin Bateman books and this one is equally as good as past books I have read, He has a wicked sense of humour and also a very dark side and with his knowledge and experience of the troubles in Ireland this makes for a very good read .

[Garrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll give it this: It ends well.

[Paul Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have read Divorcing Jack, the debut novel by Colin Bateman, you will know what to expect. A satirical swipe at Northern Ireland and its Troubles, at its parochialism and its tendency to take itself too seriously. You will perhaps be looking forward to the wit and the one-liners. You won't be disappointed, there are plenty here.

After an alcoholic binge following the death of his father, and a confrontation with his boss at the Belfast newspaper where he works, Miller is exiled to Crossmaheart. If you have seen the film of Divorcing Jack, you will already have an image of Crossmaheart, a border town in sway to paramilitaries, where the mail is collected from the Post Office in a bright red Saracen armoured personnel carrier. This time we get a closer look at this troubled town.

The book has what were to become the trademarks of a Colin Bateman story: throwaway one-liners, dreadful puns, farcical situational comedy, caricature, along with a bumbling, alcohol-soaked central character who somehow manages to get past the shit life throws at him. It's great stuff.

[Le Monde du Polar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colin Bateman appartient à cette catégorie d’auteurs majeurs qui, bien qu’amplement célébrés dans leur terre natale, n’ont pas encore reçu en France la reconnaissance qu’ils méritent. Né en 1962 à Bangor, en Irlande du Nord, cet ancien journaliste a su transformer son expérience professionnelle en matière première pour ses fictions. « La bicyclette de la violence », publié en français aux éditions Gallimard, constitue un formidable point d’entrée dans l’œuvre de cet auteur prolifique qui compte plus d’une trentaine de romans à son actif...
La suite de ma chronique sur mon blog :
https://lemondedupolar.com/la-bicycle...

[Concrete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, captivating, mysterious. Contained alot of "story-telling", not much "reflection". It was like watching a good movie but just not one you'd be very eager to watch again. You would if someone else would want to watch it with you, you wouldn't be dissapointed by their choice and would enjoy rewatching it. Or maybe you would rewatch it on your own. After reading it I thought it had the essence of "Pulp Fiction", a great classic I personally wouldn't be too eager to watch again.
Very happy I found this gem at the thriftstore.

[JA J · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Ulsterian Romeo and Juliet of the eighties. At times ribald, gentle, horrid, stark, violent, empathetic, gritty and yet there is a strain of comedy running through. It is the ability to find the twisted humor in the far from funny life and times of the Troubles that sets apart and elevates the Irish.

[Crooked Eye]

Abandonded the audiobook very early. The American accent does absolutely no favours for the Irish lyricism. Perhaps if the narrator insisted on attempting the Irish accent he should have completed a level of competency before doing the book instead of using it as a learning curve. Hopefully he managed it before the end of the book but I couldn't stick around for it.

[Aisling Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually a v enjoyable read, made me laugh out loud a few times and liked reading a story set in my sort of home lands, loved how dark it was BUT points deducted for the manic pixie dream girl vibes lol was written and set in the 90s so bit dated in that respect but overall would recco reading cuz it’s only a shorty

[Tyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this because it was given to me in a mystery grab bag from a bookstore.

Actively disliked the writing and the story as I read it. Felt obligated to finish because I paid for it but I missed out on reading something I would enjoy in the time I used to read this.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read this book many years ago, and it was interesting to revisit it in the post Good Friday Northern Ireland. It is very gritty and violent in parts, but I loved the black humour in Miller's journey.

[Daniel Henshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping and hilarious for the first two-thirds. Dragged its feet a bit in the third act.

[Beruthiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a real pity that it was not read by an Irish narrator.

[Martin Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, thrilling, but very dark.

[Dane Divine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Again, funny as can be and beautifully twisted.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and delicious humour - not for the faint hearted. One of his best.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and disturbing with a vein of comedy running right through it. Has one the best unhappy endings of any book I've ever read.

[Susan Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read - honest. It's a mystery set in war torn Ireland and I know that does not sound funny. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

[Daisy Eveling · Rating 3 out of 5]

V v readable, quite funny, and although I guessed a few of the major plot beats there was still enough in the rest of the book to have fun with!

[Amanda Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny book about the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland

[Carol Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t I finish this last week? I think I gave it three stars. Now it’s getting an extra one just for fun. Read the book.

[Frazer Grieve · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a non reader - it had me hooked from start to end, twisty, hilarious, mysterious.

Good book through and through.

[jessssssi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bateman is truly my comfort book author. His books are always so easy to immerse yourself into. Very engaging, page turning drama and absolutely hilarious.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw the film Divorcing Jack (based on a Bateman novel of the same name) many years ago, enjoyed it, then saw this in the store and bought it, and now, some 15 years or so later, I've finally got around to reading it. The good news is that my initial instinct was right -- I love comic fiction, and if it's dark comedy, so much the better. This book fits the bill nicely, with line after line of comic wordplay and nasty humor. Miller is a loose cannon of an investigative journalist who is banished from his Belfast gig after insulting his boss in a drunken tirade, and sent to work at a provincial arm of the paper in a tiny town called Crossmaheart (har har). Unfortunately for him, this being Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s, the town is crawling with IRA and Orangemen looking to off each other, as well as anyone who gets in the way. And one person who might have gotten in the way is Miller's predecessor, who has disappeared. But on the plus side of this banishment, there's the lovely and tempestuous barmaid Marie, with whom Miller quickly becomes besotten. However, since she was Milburn's girlfriend prior to his disappearance, the situation is a little tricky. And thus, darkly wacky antics ensue -- with a body count to rival your typical blockbuster thriller, along with plenty of laughs. Bateman is the kind of writer whose response to a tragic situation is to stare it in the face and point out how absurd it is by milking it for all the dark laughs he can get (the book includes probably the best Holocaust joke I've come across). Definitely worth reading if you like good wordplay and comic writing, and/or have an interest in Ireland.

[Gary Maunder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaiing read. The novel combines suspense and murder with romance and comedy. The local colour makes it a great summer read. Miller is a reporter banished by his editor for a drinking indescretion to the small Northern Irish town of Crossmaheart. There he encounters a disappearance and murder as well as a woman with a very troubled past. Like all Bateman's novels, this is worth reading.

[Mark Speed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was recommended by a work colleague, and it didn't disappointed. The protagonist is a stereotypical journalist - drunk, outspoken and angry. The 'cycle of violence' is a reference to the bicycle he rides to the violent scenes of the Troubles. He's reassigned to what would have been called 'bandit country', where the Loyalists and Republicans are facing off in a small community. Black humour - lovely.

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set mainly in the small town of Crossmaheart in Northern Ireland, this was rather a bit too dark and depressing for me and while there was some dark humor it was not nearly as funny as I remember his first book Divorcing Jack being. I listened to the audio version and unfortunately the narration by Andrew Jackson was rather pedestrian.

[Matthew Catania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman is a good quick read set in 1990s Northern Ireland. It's mordantly funny, but I don't think it's as hilarious as the the dust jacket told me. Manic depression & the lifelong effects of sexual abuse are handled very maturely with most of the punchlines being about terrorism & manslaughter. The Femme Fatale trope is subverted. It's kind of like Martin McDonagh work. Most importantly, the scene on this cover does happen in the book.