“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

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Embiggened O: Bee, Where Is Thy Sting? Oh, There It Is …

The redoubtable Allen Pierleoni at the Sacramento Bee does our humble offering THE BIG O proud in a mini-feature in which he reckons readers should “spend time with investigators who toil in foreign countries” and offers 10 recommendations, pithily suggesting that “Burke’s second novel (after EIGHTBALL BOOGIE) is in keeping with the new wave of Irish hardboiled detective fiction (think in terms of Declan Hughes, Ken Bruen and Adrian McKinty)”. Fine writers one and all, and delighted I am to be mentioned in the same breath. Meanwhile, some of his other recommendations come from Denis Lehane, Stieg Larsson, Stuart Kaminsky and Carlos Fuentes ...
  Yep, it’s official – this BIG O lark is getting way out of hand.
  Speaking of which, Jeff Kingston has been kind enough to ask me to guest-blog at The Rap Sheet in the week running up to the publication of THE BIG O, with the first post appearing today. But then, you all subscribe to The Rap Sheet anyway, so I’m probably not telling you anything don’t already know. The first post is a bit on the serious side, but I’ll lighten up after that. By Friday it’ll be a regular giggle-fest, I promise …

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Btw,did my mail arrive this time?
Marco

Declan Burke said...

No sign of it, squire ... and it didn't get snarled up in the spam filter. Odd, that ... I'll investigate further. Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

I've just received your follow-up mail.
In case you won't receive my answer,sure I'd like my copies signed.
Seems to happen only with you,but now I'm worrying whether some other mail may have gone missing from time to time...

Ciao
Marco