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Quite Ugly One Morning
Quite Ugly One Morning is the book that made Christopher Brookmyre a star in his native Britain, establishing his distinctive, scabrously humorous style and breakneck, hell-for-leather narrative pacing. The novel that won the inaugural First Blood Award for the best debut crime novel in the United Kingdom is now available in America for the first time, and comic crime writing on this side of the Atlantic may never be the same. Quite Ugly One Morning introduces Brookmyre's signature protagonist, the hard-partying, wisecracking investigative journalist Jack Parlabane, who is not afraid to bend the laws of the land (or even the laws of gravity) to get to the truth. Parlabane is nursing a horrific hangover when he stumbles across the corpse of the scion of a wealthy Edinburgh medical family. Determined to get to the bottom of the murder himself, he quickly becomes enmeshed in a wild adventure that will take him through all the strata of Edinburgh society and into some dangerous (and hysterical) situations. Laced with acerbic wit and crackling dialogue, Quite Ugly One Morning is a wickedly entertaining and vivacious thriller. "Very violent, very funny. A comedy with a political edge, which you take gleefully in one gulp." -- Literary Review "The plot crackles along with confident gusto and intelligence.... An assured debut by a talented writer." -- The Times (London) .
Price: $6.75
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Country of the Blind
British critics have compared Christopher Brookmyre's writing to the "sassy, nasty, fast style of the Americans Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen" (The Guardian) and called his work "perpetually in-your-face ... irreverent and stylish" (The Times). Now he returns with another cracked gem of a comic thriller: Country of the Blind. This time, hard-bitten investigative journalist Jack Parlabane -- hero of Brookmyre's award-winning novel Quite Ugly One Morning-finds himself up to his eyeballs in murder, mayhem, and political intrigue when conservative tabloid media mogul Roland Voss is discovered at his country estate with his throat slit and his wife and bodyguards killed. The police have arrested four men fleeing the scene, but for Parlabane it all doesn't add up and he suspects the fix is in ... unless he can get to the bottom of things before everybody else. Packed with Brookmyre's distinctive collection of wacked-out characters and fueled by his trademark hell-for-leather pacing, Country of the Blind is a tart "tartan noir" that will leave you breathless with suspense -- if you're not asphyxiated by convulsions of laughter first. "A high-octane political thriller doused in stinging satire." -- The Sunday Times (London).
Price: $4.98
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Not the End of the World
The Guardian (London) has called comic-thriller writer Christopher Brookmyre "the next star of the genre". His American debut, Not the End of the World, is a fast and furious novel set in Los Angeles at the near side of the millennium, at a point when the world is about to spin out of control -- and maybe out of existence. When an oceanic research vessel is discovered with all of its crew vanished, it sets off a chain of events that pulls Lt. Larry Freeman of the LAPD out of the ho-hum assignment of overseeing the security for a B-movie film festival and headlong into a frenzied race to stop a terrorist plot. Along the way he must contend with aging porn stars, rabid evangelical Christians, a mysterious Glaswegian photographer, and an unknown agenda, all in a frenzied -- and ultimately hysterical-race against time. "Imagine Day of the Locust updated and rewritten by Carl Hiaasen. ... Good solid fun." -- Kirkus Reviews "Perpetually in-your-face: sassy, irreverent, and stylish ... [with] a high-octane sense of the absurd." -- The Times (London) "Very violent, very funny ... comedy with a political edge, which you take gleefully in one gulp." -- Literary Review .
Price: $7.08
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One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night
Like a highball mix of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Brookmyre hits you hard and fast. Now Brookmyre is back with his most lethal book yet: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. Gavin Hutchinson had it all planned out. A unique "floating holiday experience" on a converted North Sea oil rig, a haven for tourists who want a vacation but without the hassle of actually going anywhere. And what better way to test out his venture than to host a fifteenth-year high school reunion, the biggest social event of his life, except no one remembers who Gavin is. That, and his wife has discovered his philandering ways and plans to leave him with a very public announcement in front of his assembled guests. Throw in a band of mercenaries who crash the party even though they aren't on the guest list, and you have a wicked farce of a thriller from one of the most original voices in mystery fiction. .
Price: $2.25
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A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away (Abacus Books)
Back when they were students, just like everybody else, Ray Ash and Simon Darcourt had dreams about what they'd do when they grew up. In both their cases, it was to be rock stars. Fifteen years later, their mid-thirties are bearing down fast, and just like everybody else, they're having to accept the less glamorous hands reality has dealt them. Nervous new father Ray takes refuge from his responsibilities by living a virtual existence in online games. People say he needs to grow up, but everybody has to find their own way of coping. For some it's affairs, for others it's the bottle, and for Simon it's serial murder, mass slaughter and professional assassination. Visit the author's website on www.brookmyre.co.uk.
Price: $12.84
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Boiling a Frog
Jack Parlabane, the investigative journalist who is not averse to breaking the law for the sake of a good story, has finally been caught on the petard of his own self-confidence and is experiencing accommodation courtesy of Her Majesty. The fledgling Scottish parliament is in catatonic shock after experiencing its first dose of Westminster sleaze. The Catholic Church of Scotland is taking full advantage of the politicians' discomfort and is riding high in the polls as the voice of morality. Behind the scenes the truth is obscured by the machinations of the spin doctors and in prison, aware he's missing out on a great story, Parlabane discovers that contacts and a pretty way with words are no defence against people he has helped to put away. Part political satire, part cliff-hanging thriller this is high calibre entertainment. And for the author's own view on his books visit his website at www.brookmyre.co.uk And for the author's own view on his books visit his website at www.brookmyre.clara.net.
Price: $6.43
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