451

'Oh well, for fuck's sake. It's so pathetic. Have you any idea how many guys end up with that kind of woman? They want some weedy bimbette who'll look up to them because their little dicks go limp at the thought of a relationship with an intellectual equal.'

'Jesus, I should introduce you to Sarah. You'd both have lots to talk about.'

That! The good guys in Christopher Brookmyre's Quite Ugly One Morning, superjournalist Jack Parlabene, her sidekick Sarah Slaughter and good cop DC Jenny Dalziel did have lots to talk about. Not only they talked a lot, and a lot, and a lot about themselves, they also talked alike.

QUOM is the first novel of Brookmyre, but it's the third one I read after A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil and One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. Scotsman said it has 'excellent plotting and a goodly amount of acidic one liners.' One liners are good, but I start wondering whether the Scots really use that acidic amount when they explain their life history in literally several chapters. Or maybe it's just a first time thing, since I don't feel it in ATEIBAHBP. OFDITMOTN suffers a bit, but not as bad.

This flaw aside (and a not-so-interesting interest on human mixture wastes and blood), I really enjoyed the book. It's fun, witty and takes interesting turns that keeps you turn the pages. As a traditional reader of Agatha Christie, I found it very refreshing. ATEIBAHBP is still on the top of my list, but I can see how this one became a promising start.

Now, does anyone have any other Brookmyre that I can borrow/buy?