“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, November 20, 2007

We Kid You, We Kid You Not

It’s a crazy, mixed-up, upside-down world, folks. Re-released in paperback last month, SURE FIRE sees Jack Higgins team up with Justin Richards to take a stab at the Alex Ryder market. Quoth the HarperCollins blurb elves:
The mother of fourteen–year–old twins Rich and Jade dies in a car crash and they are told they must go and live with their estranged father, who they have never met before. Neither the children nor their father get on, but when Rich and Jade witness him being kidnapped they are drawn into a dangerous crisis that could engulf not just their family but the whole world ...
But probably won’t. Meanwhile, Eoin Colfer (below) – whose work to date has targeted younger readers, via the Artemis Fowl series and the hopefully not for much longer standalone HALF MOON INVESTIGATIONS – is planning to go after that pesky adult audience. Quoth El Colf:
“When I’ve finished [Artemis 6] I’m doing an adult thriller which I’ve been asked to, and I’m hoping to do that very quickly, as it’s quite short … I did a story last year for a collection called DUBLIN NOIR, which is part of a series called NEW YORK NOIR, CHICAGO NOIR, a fantastic series. And I thought ‘Oh my God, all these guys are famous detective writers’, so I thought ‘I’m going to do the funniest story I have ever written,’ and all of the swearwords that have been stored up over the years are going into this!”
And there was us thinking he’d been using Fowl language all along … Oh come on, people, it’s Tuesday!

5 comments:

Peter Rozovsky said...

Yea, verily, this is good news. Eoin Colfer's story was one of the highlights of Dublin Noir. No accident it was chosen to be the first story in the book.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Declan Burke said...

Peter - Good news, indeed. At this stage we know Colfer could churn out an entertaining shopping list, if required ... and after reading Half Moon Investigations, I did wonder what he'd do with an adult protagonist. Looking forward to it, definitely ... Cheers, Dec

Anonymous said...

Whatever he does, it'll be good.

Declan Burke said...

Couldn't agree more, Ann ... if it's anything as clever as his younger adult material, it'll be one of the novels of the year. Cheers, Dec

Shaz said...

Colfer's story was definitely the stand-out one in DUBLIN NOIR, and I seem to remember muttering in the review about wasn't it time he wrote an adult book!