Peril

In line with my reviewing policy of only giving a write-up to books I have enjoyed, I now have great pleasure in making a few comments on Ruby Barnes's Peril, a novel which could also have been titled, "The Power of Positive Thinking for Feckless Scots Bent on Raising Levels of Dissatisfaction Among Irish Wives, Mistresses, Relatives, Beggars and Rail Customers Who Have the Temerity to Make Complaints".

Ger Mayes is a loveable ne'er do well from North of that Border uniting Scotland and England. Married to an upright modern Irish woman who, needless to say, indulges in quickies with her personal trainer, Ger is paid what seems to be a reasonable salary by the complaints office of Irish Railways. His minimal investment of time, and low show more respect for his customers, makes Ger a poster boy for the most negative, biased sorts of comments made by Dubliners about immigrant labor. Ger's only self-questioning comes from the wonder and anger generated when he does not get promoted over the heads of some, admittedly obnoxious, colleagues who do, however, respect reasonable standards of productivity, putting in an hour of work and a full five hours of gossip and back-biting on the days when they're in the office--and not taking their statutory sick days off.

Although Ger is more than a bit of a wine and food snob--and should know that after two or three glasses his taste-buds will have had as much as they can reasonably enjoy--when out with the lads he has a habit of drinking himself into that state of mindlessness where his head stops working but his feet keep walking. One night, in a city of Dublin that could pass for the capital of the Chechen Republic under attack by the Russians, he wanders befuddled and lost, finding it impossible to suss his way to the train station and back home to the outer suburbs, where he can reconnect with the middle-class way of life as it developed in late 20th and early 21st century Ireland: memorization of suburban railway time tables, calculating which train will get him into work just after time and out of work just before time, formal dinners where he can whimsically analyze--in the company of mortgaged-up-to-the-hilt neighbors--the merits of different types of pasta, tomato sauce, red wine, white wine and Indian or other take-away dishes while ogling and caressing the knees of his wife's best friend.

Ger stumbles into a fight with a Romanian beggar, kills the man and flees the scene. The next day, unsurprisingly, the murder does not trouble his conscience. Its consequences only begin to concern him when he realizes he didn't dispose of the murder weapon so that it couldn't be found. His worries are compounded when it turns out that another member of the beggar clan saw him do it. The only one of the ten commandments that Ger respects is the eleventh one, "Thou shan't get caught", but, when he does get found out, every problem becomes an opportunity, in line with his innate approach to life, that of the devil-may-care chancer. Any event that would render a less hedonistic man catatonic with fright becomes something to flip to his advantage in his only serious quest: how to satisfy every one of his five senses, every day, in every way.

The Head of the Beggar clan sets his people on Ger's tail. They take him to some weird and wonderful places as they inform him how they will exact retribution. One of those places is a mansion in the middle of the Phoenix Park occupied by a gang of people who wander the streets of Dublin in search of ill-gotten gain (this is NOT the Irish National Police Force, which occupies a totally different mansion in the Park).

Although the main plot of the book has nothing to do with how Irish Complaints Offices' resort to Soviet style methods to keep their more recalcitrant employees mouthing sweet nothings to dissatisfied customers, or ass-licking around the coffee machine, there are very some very funny scenes when Ger is put on obligatory sick leave for questioning his non-promotion and told to report to a psychiatrist on a near-daily basis to prove that his behavior is normal. This interferes with him spending afternoons in the sack of his anorexic mistress.

I began to read this in a hot and humid hotel room in an African city, feeling nostalgic for a few words describing the ould sod. But Ruby Barnes's belly-laugh provoking, high-wire act of dissecting the pretensions of modern-day Ireland, and showing what it takes to thrive, namely the "Ger Attitude", replaced the desire for the fickle charms of Kathleen ni Houlihan with the commonsense thought that I should stay where I was. I read the final electronic page of this fine comic novel of Ireland, laid the Kindle beside me and began to hum that age-old song of wisdom, McAlpine's Fusiliers, "Oh Mother Dear, I'm over here and I'm never coming back....."

Nevertheless, a few days later, I found myself on a flying visit to Dublin. The city was in the midst of a four-day heatwave, with nary a beggar, dead, alive, or in the Phoenix Park to be seen. Whose view of Dublin was the right one? That of Ger, Ruby Barnes's main character in Peril, or the one of my own eyes and the Irish Tourist Board's? I decided to download to my Kindle another Ruby Barnes novel. I recommend you do the same. show less

Extremely well written book, full of dark humor and irony. The main character is not all that likable, yet you find yourself pulling for him. In spite of his womanizing, poor judgment, and mishaps, you hope he will somehow come out on the other side. You hope he will pull off the big drug buy and get his life in order. One weird thing after another happens to this man! The ending took me by surprise.
Ruby Barnes is an author with awesome talent. I have to say well done! I would recommend this book to anyone. I couldn't stop turning the pages to see what was going to happen next!

Surprisingly delightful! I first read an unrelated short story by Ruby Barnes. It had promise, but didn’t seem quite finished. It left me hanging, wishing for just a bit more. Well, both Peril and its sequel, Getting Out of Dodge, give a bit more and then some.

At the beginning of Peril, Ger – our hero? – says: “When I’m finished you will likely have no respect for me. What not to do with your life by Gerard Mayes. There will be a warm feeling that it happened to me, not you, and that I deserved it. Fair judgment, trust me on this if nothing else.”

He’s right. He is a thoroughly unlikable character, consistently behaving in a selfish, uncaring, thoughtless, repulsive manner. You can’t wait for him to get caught and be show more punished. But – he is also thoroughly compelling. You can’t wait to see what happens to him next, if for no other reason than to see if he’ll get in more trouble. He is not a charming scoundrel; his behavior is outrageous. But once you’re hooked, you can’t stop reading.

The action is fast paced and suspenseful. The writing is a pleasure. You think you’re reading just another crime story, but a turn of phrase will surprise and delight you and sometimes make you laugh out loud.

Occasionally the action bogs down a bit or the details get a bit confusing, but never enough to detract from the story, and it picks up again quickly.

I would definitely recommend Peril for a fun, exhausting, surprising, thoroughly enjoyable read! show less

This is phenomenal writing. The author has an absolute knack for sketching out characters and pulling the reader into their lives and motivations. As a result the reader finds themselves sympathising with situations and decisions that they normally wouldn't.

I'll admit to varying between 4 & 5 stars on this one, because I've never met a character I disliked so much (Bella from Twilight doesn't come close). The main character in this book, Ger, made me want to reach through the pages and slap him, repeatedly - probably because I've had the misfortune to date similar types in my own life.

My normal response to a character I completely dislike is to close the book. However, Ruby Barnes has a knack for keeping you reading simply with the show more quality of his writing, and for me, the other characters in the book had me hooked.

A fine look at what people will - and won't - do in extraordinary circumstances, and a great study of living, working and dying in a gritty urban world. For me, the writing trumped the flaws in Ger, who seems to suffer from TSTL (too stupid to live)syndrome and an ego that could sink the Titanic all over again. show less

If you're looking for an everyone lives happily ever after tale, keep on looking, you won't find it here. The world seems to be crashing down around Ger in this witty, well written, engaging story. Even though much of Ger's "peril" is due to his own lack of self control I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he dug himself in deeper and deeper from one bad situation to the next. A very enjoyable read.

Part way through reading "Peril," I thought that Ruby Barnes had written a surprisingly good "bloke book" for a woman. OK, now I get it. Ruby Barnes is an Irishman, and quite an author. This book has movie option written all over it, and I would certainly look forward to it hitting the big screen.

The protagonist, Ger Mayes, is a middle-class Scot married to Jo, an Irish woman, and so they live in Ireland. Ger also has a mistress - Jo's friend Renee, a best friend in gay drug-enthusiast, Tom, and a civil service job he hates. On the short side of middle age, Ger drinks too much, womanizes too much, and has too little money to support his "needs." When he drunkenly murders a Romanian beggar who'd assaulted him, Ger finds himself caught in show more a web of deceit, drugs, and death, all of which land him directly in the sights of the Irish police, drug dealers, and a corrupt legal system. Let's call this Irish noir. Ger's never quite sure what he's gotten himself into, doesn't know how to play the game, and doesn't know who he can trust. In truth, the person he can least trust is himself. Ger Mayes is one of those smaller-than-life characters who sees himself larger as through in funhouse mirror. He foresees a big payoff, and always thinks he's just a step away. It's rather like an optical delusion.

This is a good read, suspenseful, funny, tragic, and finally just. I highly recommend "Peril."

One note - I read this as an e-book provided through Smashwords. There is a missing electronic page, but it didn't detract from my comprehension or enjoyment. show less

Slow and droll start that almost had me putting down this book and thinking that not all indie books are worth reading. However, the author has a good writing style and there was just enough of a tantalizing plot that I thought I should keep reading since the author spent a good deal of time writing.

As I got past the doldrums, I found myself reading a fast paced, well crafted story, with unlikeable characters. I was hooked! I was mesmerized by the path the characters take and their tribulations.

I don't write reviews with a story synopsis, I just try to let potential readers know the strengths and weaknesses of a book. I highly recommend this book with the suggestion that you have access to a British-English dictionary at hand. There is show more a lot of British slang that warrant deciphering the meaning. Failure to do so actually diminishes the quality of the read. One thing has left me in a quandary. I don't really know if the ending is a great twist on a story full of twists or simply a feeble attempt at an ending to meet a deadline. It is easy to accept either as reality. I sat there for a long time thinking about the ending and the book as a whole. I select the former as the answer to my quandary but you may not.

In summary, please pick up this book in any format available. Be patient and you will be more that satisfied. show less