“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, November 30, 2008

The Purty Dozen

Gerard Brennan over at CSNI gave us the first look at Stuart Neville’s cover for THE TWELVE this week (rather fetching artwork, right), and also Stuart’s depressing reasons for why the previously monikered THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST will be called THE TWELVE for it’s UK release. Buggery, scooped again. Oi, Neville – that’s you and me finito, squire.
  Anyhoo, the reason I bring up THE TWELVE is that John Connolly was among those great-n-good the Irish Times asked for their ‘Books of the Year’ selections for 2008, the full list of which was published yesterday. Quoth JC:
“Meanwhile, this was a good year for Irish crime fiction, with strong additions from Declan Hughes, Tana French, Paul Charles and Brian McGilloway, among others. I suspect, though, that one of the crime novels of the year in 2009 will be Stuart Neville’s stunning debut, THE TWELVE (Harvill Secker, £12.99), which is, I think, the best mystery to have emerged so far from the aftermath of the Troubles. I read it in a single sitting, and it marks a major step forward for the genre in this country.”
  So there you have it. Stuart Neville. THE TWELVE. Remember, folks, you heard it here second.

8 comments:

Stuart Neville said...

Well, you got the scoop on this one, Dec - I didn't know a thing about it until a few minutes ago!

I had thought I owed John Connolly a pint. It's looking more like I'll owe him a brewery!

adrian mckinty said...

Hmmm,

I like Ghosts of Belfast better but I'm going to jump over and see what the man says for himself.

Declan Burke said...

Kind of like THE TWELVE myself ... Sorta apostle-y spooky. Of course, they could have gone the extra mile and just called it THE TWELFTH ...

Cheers, Dec

seana graham said...

That's a great write up, Stuart. Any word yet on when this might be published in the U.S.?

adrian mckinty said...

You may be right Dec, but in my book Belfast = cool. BTW this post was your worst/best pun ever.

Declan Burke said...

Really? My worst pun ever? Gee, shucks ...

Stuart Neville said...

Seanag - Soho Press haven't given me a publication date yet, but I'm thinking it'll be 2010 or late 2009 at the earliest.

seana graham said...

Well, that's a wait for us then, but on the other hand, Soho seems to be a great press to be associated with. They've been putting out a very strong line of international crime fiction, both new and old, these last few years. So we can hope the company you'll be keeping will boost your name recognition even further.