“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Crime Fiction: It's Just One Rung Up The Ladder From Your Actual Porn, Isn't It?

Contracted to review crime fiction for the Washington Post five years ago, Patrick Anderson had something of a Damascene revelation - some crime fiction writers could actually, y'know, write. Lummee! And that crime fiction has gone mainstream! Corks!! "Look at the American bestseller lists any Sunday," says Patrick over at his Guardian blog, plugging his book The Triumph of the Thriller, "and you'll find that at least half of the novels listed are thrillers of one sort or another ... Today, suspense, not sex, is the engine that drives popular fiction." And not only that, but he's lauding " ... the wildly creative work of Irish-born Ken Bruen and Adrian McKinty. Great crime fiction is being written today on both sides of the Atlantic, and no one should be ashamed of enjoying it." Yowsa! He likes us, he really, really likes us ...

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