Quite Funny This Morning
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Jack Parlabane is a journalist who seems to find trouble wherever he goes. After fleeing the United States he finds himself crashing in a friend's flat in Edinburgh. Fast asleep he is unable to hear the murder downstairs, therefore, it's not his fault that the next day after locking himself out he is found in the victim's home trying to jimmy the window. Perhaps being caught by the police for something he did not do will be a blessing in disguise. He is a man with certain talents to uncover dirt where other people refuse to tread. It just so happens that this place is the NHS were the dirt is thicker than most.
`Quite Ugly One Morning' is a crime satire that combines both a good mystery with a biting examination of the NHS. Brookmyre is able to create likable characters and get them to examine real life problems through a comedic lens. The main hero Parlabane is a rogue, but very likable. Through him Brookmyre is able to examine how greed and ignorance is destroying the NHS to the point were you are best off never getting ill. To those not interested in political activism there is nothing to worry about as despite the subject matter the central theme is a crime thriller. This is a genuinely amusing book that tackles a highbrow subject in a new and amusing way.
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Reading it again
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I recently re-read Christopher Brookmyre's first book and confirmed that this story was as funny and entertaining as I remembered.
A hilarious opening and entertaining reading throughout. I would not recommend it to everyone, but it is one of the few books my son has actually read and enjoyed in the last few years.
Brookmyre deserves greater success. His writing makes me laugh out loud and that does not happen with many writers these days.
The plots are not predictable and the action never flags.
Brilliant.
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Hilarious
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Not really my kind of thing but nobody could dispute the humour. I was laughing out loud.
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Very funny
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Although not quite as tightly plotted as some of Brookmyre's later novels, Quite Ugly One Morning is still a cracking good read, blackly comic and full of wit. Of course, Brookmyre's trademark gruesome violence is much in evidence but it's all very tongue-in-cheek. All in all, an excellent read and a good introdction to this write's work.
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Amusing but lacking atmosphere or tension
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I had heard positive things about Christopher Brookmyre and this book seemed generally well received. So I thought I would give it a try.
My first reaction was that I should have tried Brookmyre before. The opening scene is well written and very amusing. Unfortunately, that's the best part of the book. Christopher Brookmyre is a capable writer and he can be very funny but, on this evidence, he is not good enough at prose or comedy to compensate for bland plotting and weak characterisation. The main characters are simply not real enough to carry interest and seem little more than vehicles for the author's wit. Most significantly, there is a lack of atmosphere or tension.
Not a bad book, but not one I would recommend.
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