“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, October 7, 2012

They Shoot Homophobes, Don’t They?

I’m not entirely sure of the protocol when it comes to declaring a writer a debutant when said author has already released another novel under a pseudonym, so let’s just say that EVEN FLOW by Darragh McManus is a debut novel from Darragh McManus and leave it at that. Quoth the blurb elves:
New York City: a man hangs upside-down outside a skyscraper. He is being punished by three vigilantes and he is just the first. The 3W Gang are regular guys. They believe society needs balance enforced karma through selective, brutal punishment of misogynists and homophobes. Wilde, Waters and Whitman are inspired by revolutionaries and feminists, art and irony. They are the grunge vibe made flesh and made angry: cool, witty, sexy ... and dangerous. Hunting them is a gay detective, determined to see justice done but getting more morally ambivalent as he’s drawn into their world. It is time for an EVEN FLOW.
  EVEN FLOW is an action-packed novel, cinematic, funny and provocative. It is a fable wrapped inside a thriller, Germaine Greer crossed with Kurt Cobain crossed with Dirty Harry.
  An intriguing prospect, no? It certainly can’t be faulted for ambition, originality and lunacy, all of which, I think, are to be celebrated in a genre that has been known to err on the staid and conservative. Will it find a readership that is sufficiently energised by originality, ambition and lunacy? Only time, that notoriously rat-fink canary, will tell.

2 comments:

Rob Kitchin said...

Sounds intriguing alright. Have added it to my Amazon basket.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Rob! Hope you enjoy. 'Tis pretty good, IMVHO...