“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

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Preview: THE NIGHT OF

The Night Of, an eight-part series written by The Wire’s Richard Price and directed by Steven Zaillian, starts tonight (UK and Ireland) on Sky Atlantic. Adapted from the BBC series Criminal Justice (2008-09), it explores the impact of the US criminal justice system on a host of characters, all of whom revolve around the character of Nasir ‘Naz’ Khan, played by Riz Ahmed (right). The synopsis for Episode 1 runs as follows:
Nasir ‘Naz’ Khan (Riz Ahmed) is a naive Pakistani-American college student living in Queens, New York. While using his father’s cab one night with intentions to attend a popular party, Naz picks up a young woman, Andrea Cornish (Sofia Black D’Elia). After a night of sex and drugs with the woman, Naz wakes and finds her stabbed to death; he has no recollection of what happened. Naz leaves the scene but is arrested for a minor traffic violation shortly after. At the station, he declines to answer calls to his mobile phone from his parents, who are worried about him and trying to reach him. When searching Naz, the police find a knife matching the suspected murder weapon in his pocket and witnesses identify him. Naz is interrogated by detective Dennis Box (Bill Camp) and eventually asks for a lawyer, but one is not provided, until world-weary defense attorney John Stone (John Turturro) hears of the case and steps in to represent Naz.
  I watched the first three episodes of The Night Of to preview the show for RTE’s Arena programme, and once I was past the time-worn trope of ‘Naz wakes and finds her stabbed to death’, I found myself enthralled. Bracingly cynical, superbly characterised (if I’m ever arrested for a crime I’m not sure I’ve committed, Bill Camp’s ‘subtle beast’ Detective Box is the man I want investigating the case) and brilliantly acted, it’s a multi-faceted exploration of how getting caught up in the impersonal machinery of the justice system is a crushing experience for everyone involved. If you liked the Serial podcast or Making of a Murderer, or you’re a fan of the Scandi-Noir TV series, I’m pretty sure you’ll like this.
  For my review of The Night Of, clickety-click here. For all the details of the show, clickety-click here.
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