“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

Monday, October 1, 2007

The Monday Review

Let’s just get the inevitable John Connolly review out of the way early, shall we? “Connolly has a knack for creating the worst kind of bad characters, and the baddies in THE UNQUIET are no exception … A triple-layered terror cake with blood cherries on top,” says Natalie Lubbe over at The Citizen … Sophie Hannah predicts Tana French will be a star of the future up yonder at The Scotsman, to wit: “Her first novel, IN THE WOODS, is out already and her second (I hope) will be out next year. IN THE WOODS is stunning.” Which is very nice … “The old-fashioned appeal of Harrison’s prose opens up a new world while harkening back to the way writers like Ellis Peters fashioned their historical mysteries,” purrs Sarah Weinman of Cora Harrison’s MY LADY JUDGE at the Baltimore Sun … “I loved this book! It’s my favourite book in the Artemis Fowl series so far … The ending was crazy; I can’t wait for the next book in the series!” reckons Rose of Malice of Eoin Colfer’s ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY … Staying with a younger audience, Hurrah4Books rather liked Siobhan Dowd’s THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, to wit: “I loved this book. It’s a gripping read - definitely recommend it.” Meanwhile, Maxine Clarke at Maxine’s Book Reviews is keen on Gene Kerrigan’s latest: “I loved everything about this book. THE MIDNIGHT CHOIR is truly bleak, at times violent and disturbing, but always brilliant. The way in which the plots overlap and sometimes merge in a horridly inevitable cause and effect is masterly.” Mistery Scream concurs: “It’s Kerrigan’s firm control of the procedural genre and the breathtaking twist he gives his plot that show him to be a master of the form. Gripping crime fiction in which the setting is unequivocally the protagonist.” Loverly jubberly … Keiran at The Book Crowd is impressed with 12:23: “[Eoin] McNamee’s ability to portray the inner nuances of so many different characters creates a rich and plausible cast. Even if you don’t like the topic, you will be entranced by the atmosphere created,” quoth Keiran. Claire Kilroy’s debut novel, ALL SUMMER, gets a belated big-up from Murder By The Book, to wit: “John Kenny’s review in The Irish Times summed up the unsettling but unputdownable quality of this book well: “Kilroy has strikingly combined a poetic sense of language with a commitment to the narrative thrills of good storytelling …We have here an unusual phenomenon: a novelist who knows the occult powers of descriptive language.” If you like your mysteries neat and tidy, you may want to give this one a miss, but if you enjoy the unexpected and unusual, this one will make you shiver.” Meanwhile, Susanna Yager at The Telegraph likes Ruth Dudley Edwards’ MURDERING AMERICANS: “The story veers between farce, which is often hilarious, and the deadly serious. Judging by the rapturous quotes on the cover, Americans, at least those who reviewed the book, make up for any other shortcomings with a good sense of humour.” Finally, and appropriately enough given that he’s just scooped a second Shamus Award, among others, Crime Spree Magazine are on a bit of a Ken Bruen splurge. “AMMUNITION is another Inspector Brant novel and it rocks … Great read again. Hail Mr. Bruen,” says Jon here, before following it up with hup-ya for the latest Bruen / Jason Starr collaboration, SLIDE: “Bruen and Starr have delivered another great book that crime fictions fans can rally around, pure fun on every page. Over at Bookgasm, Rod Lott is of a mind to agree: “Like those miscreants who populate Elmore Leonard novels, SLIDE’s characters are the slimiest of the slime, yet somehow an utter joy to follow … For a crude, rude and tastefully tasteless trip with society’s underbelly, SLIDE is the ride of the season.” And so say all of us …

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