I used to love Christopher Brookmyre's quirky humour, but I gave up on this one just short of half-way through - just not that funny! ( )

This is a fun book with an interesting premise. It's hampered by being a bit heavy-handed with its message, and too predictable (I could tell how it was going to end by the time I was about halfway through). Also, there were only a couple minor characters with character arcs, and since I didn't really care about those characters, their arcs kind of fell flat. Overall, though, I liked the book's style and humor, and I felt that its main idea was pretty clever. ( )

I'm a big fan of the Jack Parlabane novels and this one does not disappoint.. Parlabane takes on the paranormal and physics in this one which is narrated by Parlabane, Michael, a student who gets caught up in the events of the book and Jillian Noble, another journalist who takes the opposite view to Parlabane, as Parlabane comments 'comparing herself to "the hardest-bitten sceptic" is prettty tough to swallow for anybody who knows she's a fully fledged God-botherer'. There are lots of twists and turns to the plot, and plenty of Brookmyre's trademark dark humour and scathing wit. Superb. ( )

I loved Christopher Brookmyre’s early books and will admit to having a slight crush on his investigative journalist character, Jack Parlabane, but I was under-whelmed by some of his later books and I haven’t bothered with quit e a few of the recent ones. But if “Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks” is anything to go by, he is back on form.

Once more it features the cynical journalist Parlabane, but this time he is narrating the book from beyond the grave, and the theme of the book is the paranormal and fake psychics. The title refers to some people’s unshakeable beliefs despite huge evidence to contrary. Essentially this is a crime novel, but the trickery of the celebrity mediums and the human psychology behind it makes for an interesting setting.

Yet again, this is a book with a split narrative. Parlabane is the main narrator and his deadpan Scottish humour will be familiar to anyone who has read Brookmyre’s other books, but he shares the narration with a student caught up in the events and a female journalist with opposing views to Parlabane. The parts by the latter are dryer in style than the rest and the opening chapter seemed to drag, but it is worth sticking with as the story soon picks up.

I guessed a couple of the twists before they were revealed but that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this. A good light read. ( )

Enjoyed this book and particularly the Scottish setting. CB likes his contemporary references. There are a few good laughs in here alongside a more serious criticism of psychic fraudsters and the religious right. I didn't feel that all the voices came through effectively, although the switches between narrators was critical in keeping tension in the story. The book managed to capture my attention enough for me to want to get to the end. I'll probably seek out another by him at some point, but not straight away. ( )