Number 39 - The Big Yaroo - Patrick McCabe

 I think this book is a classic example of setting my expectations too high.

This is Patrick McCabe's sequel to the Butcher Boy, which was almost a lifechanging book for me when I read it many many years ago. It was also filmed very memorably by Neil Jordan back in the 90s.

This picks up on Francie Bradie's life several decades later. He's still a resident in the psychiatric home he was committed to at the end of book one.

He's the editor and chief writer of a magazine for the inmates called "The Big Yaroo". He's received a worrying diagnosis from the doctors as regards his physical health, but he's planning the perfect escape.

We're introduced to a host of new characters and flashback cameos from some familiar faces from the first book.

And that's pretty much the whole book.  And therein lies my issue.

In the Butcher Boy, the story was always building up to something. There was a palpable tension as we realised the widening gap between young Francie's beliefs and the world he was actually living in. There were surprises and shocking moments. The plot moved in a straight line.

This sequel doesn't have any of those. We already know about the gulf between him and reality. There's no real build of tension even to the planned escape. The plot moves backwards and forwards so much that it becomes more difficult to interpret. We're following at least 4 sets of flashbacks that may or may not reflect actual events in his life.

There are moments of comedy and the prose is just wild. You can sit and let it wash over your brain and that's a remarkable craic all by itself. I think I might have enjoyed the story more if I'd allowed myself a few hours uninterrupted reading more often than I did during the last week. reading it piecemeal the way I did added to the confusion I think.

All in all, I think any problems I've had with this are down to me and not the book. I set my expectations so high, it was almost certainly not going to live up to them. I read the book in short segments rather than setting time aside to properly concentrate on it. 

One to reread another time maybe. when I can give it the attention it deserves.

Number 36 - Brouhaha - Ardal O'Hanlon

 

Another Irish writer, this time it's that genial chap from Father Ted and My Hero. From the cover though, you can see that this isn't going to be a genial little read.

This is a crime thriller set in small town Ireland near the border in the early noughties. 

Dove Connolly is dead, apparent suicide via shotgun in the face. His best friend, Philip Starkey has returned to the town of Tullyanna to investigate how this ties in with the disappearance of his girlfriend Sandra thirteen years previously.

This kickstarts a chain of events involving strange comic books, local ex gangsters now current political candidates, more murders and lots of border politics.

It's all a bit of a curates egg. There are parts of this book that sparkle off the page.  You can almost hear Ardal reading it out and it's great. It's witty and almost compulsive.

However, and this becomes more pervasive the further in you get, there are bits that are really a bit of a slog. Lots of info-dumping and not much in the way of entertaining story.

In the final chapters, we don't even witness the final reveal of the truth first hand.  The heroes are told second hand by the policeman who took the confessions. It feels like a bit of a cheat to me to do it that way. 

The fact that some of the revelations about the missing girl come completely from left field with no foreshadowing in the slightest is less than satisfying. There's no hint whatsoever even in any of the character's flashbacks about her (they all grew up together and were in varying relationships with the missing girl) or even in her diary that one of the lead characters has read several times. A good twist has to have some basis in what has come before, not just "oh, she'd been doing these outrageous things all along and none of you boyfriends or best friends or even her diary had any idea about it".

So all in all a mixed bag and ultimately a bit disappointing. Some great writing, and some that needs work.

Number 34 - There was a Crooked Man - Cat Hogan

 A nice little segue from one theme to the next here. There's a cat on the cover, and she's an Irish writer.  Irish writers are this month's theme.

I'd never heard of Cat Hogan before but this was cheap in the sale section of Waterstones and sounded interesting.

Scott Carluccio Randall is a real piece of work. He's a drug dealer and people trafficker living in Marrakesh as the book opens. He victimises his closest associate Fran just for fun.  

Back home in the Irish village they both left on short notice after a violent incident, Jen, a victim of Scott's violence in that incident, lives in terror of his return.

Her friends, family and therapist all think she's paranoid, but she knows he will return to complete the job he left unfinished last time, and both she and her 10 year old son will be his victims.

This is a tautly written thriller with engaging characters that we can empathise with. 

This read well as a standalone novel with many hints as to the violence in the past.  However, I discovered when I looked at the "by the same author adverts at the end of the book, "They All Fall Down", as namechecked on the top of the cover, is actually book one and this is a sequel.

Ah well.  One more for the shopping list.

Highly recommended.  The plot moves at a good pace. Scott is a proper villain and his insanity shines through his pages. Jen's paranoia seems perfectly reasonable in response. 

I wonder if my opinion of this will change once I've read the first book.