“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

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Maid Man: Colin Bateman Takes On The Mob

Everyone’s heard of DIVORCING JACK, of course, but MAID OF THE MIST (Headline) is one of those early novels by The Artist Formerly Known As Colin Bateman that you rarely hear anyone talking about – although that should all change this coming May. Originally published in 1999, the novel is being reissued under the ‘Bateman’ brand, as the new cover suggests, with the blurb elves broadcasting thusly:
Nothing much ever happens in Niagara Falls. It is a sleepy town full of honeymooners and tourists, and that’s how Inspector Frank Corrigan likes it. He saw enough trouble as a cop in Northern Ireland. Now he’s happy dealing with parking offences and the odd drunk, although since his wife has left him and taken their daughter, ‘happy’ may not quite be the word.
  But then a reincarnated Native American princess by the name of Lelewala canoes over the Falls and survives. Or so she says. And Frank falls in love. And finds himself confronting the greatest terrorist of the age at an international gathering of drug dealers. And then the music starts …
  Funny, moving, crazy, dark and thought-provoking, this is Bateman at his brilliant best.
  For all the details, clickety-click here

1 comment:

seana graham said...

Ah, Bateman--what would we do without you?