All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye

Us readers ken the score

I loved this more, seemingly, than most reviewers I've read. Part Brookmye-tartan-noir-with-jokes, part techno-thriller and, improbably, part rom-com.

It flagged a bit in the prelude to act 2 at Kaos Kottage, but that aside it rolled along with a cast of hugely entertaining characters, and had a surprisingly warm feel-good heart. Recommended.

This is probably the least of Brookmyre's laugh-out-loud novels but doesn't suffer at all for that. 46 year-old mother of two and also a grandmother, Jane Fleming, is recruited by a team of highly skilled professionals to help them find and rescue her son. He's in the process of inventing a device which will stop any projectile weapon. Unfortunately, his secret has got out into the wide world and it's upset some quite unpleasant people. Escaping from the first attempt to grab him he still manages to fall into nefarious hands thanks to the best endeavours of his dad. So it falls to mum to help in the rescue.

It's quite Bond-ian in nature with plenty of tech gadgets on parade and sufficiently over the top locations. The characters are show more built steadily and the development of the main character from frumpy grandmother to action hero is well handled. A good book from a favourite author to start the year. show less

Well, this was a first. Never before have I thought of a Brookmyre novel, “this is a bit slow.” There have been digressions and lacunae interspersed in the plots but these have always been leavened by the humour permeating his writing. Once the action gets going this one does perk up a bit but then slows down again before picking up once more.

Two chapters (crucially including the first) are almost entirely devoted to information dumping disguised as back story. Where such information is essential to the plot (and here some is) it would be better unfolded in the narrative, shown to us rather than told. Admittedly that would have made the book even longer than it now is, but still.

The plot itself revolves around a worker in the arms show more industry, Ross Fleming, who has invented a device that threatens to turn that murky world upside down. The heroine, though, is his middle-aged and previously homely (yet ex-punk) mother, Jane, who is “recruited” by the team tasked with the job of recovering Ross after he disappears suddenly.

In the end it all becomes more than a little unbelievable - and Jane’s transformation into Action Woman is too quick - but Brookmyre plots have never really withstood much close scrutiny.

The book is still characteristically readable but somewhere along the way the author’s distinctive humour seems to have been mislaid. It is almost as if Brookmyre might have thought his usual comedic approach is somehow unworthy and he was making an effort at being a more “serious” writer. There are still flashes, though; a nice aside on the Catholic Church’s propensity to move doctrinal goalposts and a rant on the disproportionate contribution of Scots to human progress.

If I were recommending a starting point for potential Brookmyre readers I’d suggest other books of his, though. show less

Billed as ‘winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse 2006 prize for comic fiction’, I expected great humour from this book and was initially disappointed. I found the opening chapter confusing but persevered. Once the narrative moved on to Jane’s life, I was in familiar territory: lonely, aging woman reflects on acceptable but mundane life to date and feels she is largely ‘past it’. Although this may sound dull, it is a tribute to the author’s skill that Jane’s thoughts engage your sympathy rather than irritation while some of the key characters are sketched out.

As the story developed and the central mission unfolded the story became far more engaging. The plot twists are humorous, if often predictable. Dialogue is show more snappy, if occasionally reminiscent of films in which the bad guys spend too much time posturing, allowing them to get caught. The characters are interesting, although it is unfortunate that one of the central male figures loses his sense of enigma and becomes a typical psychological stick figure by the end of the novel.

Overall, it was an enjoyable novel which is well-written and woven together. Worth a read, but probably not another. show less

This is the second book I’ve read by Brookmyre, and it’s all right, maybe not as good as the other one, or at least not quite as convincing. Essentially, a 46-year-old grandmother joins an elite mercenary squad to rescue her kidnapped son. Amusing at times, strong characterization and some decent satire, but I couldn’t really buy the idea that you can train to be a part of a crack mercenary squad in a matter of hours with zero previous experience. I don't care how bad yr marriage is.

Read this in a couple of days over some long train journeys.
So was kind of stuck with it. Good thing really, as writing this review 2 weeks later the plot and characters have really stayed with me alot more than I thought they would.

There are sections, probably the first 150 pages that in places are overly descriptive and/or unnecessary. I also got the impression that the author struggle to weave certain parts of the plot together - not suprising given the obvious juxtaposition of character-types.

Not sure it will be one that I retain in my collection, but would be happy to recommend to a friend.

At first I was dissapointed with this book. It took too long to get started. First you get the introduction of Bett's team, then you flip to boring old Jane, only to go back again to Bett's team and Lex's actions. I was almost ready to give up on the book because it seemed like such a meaningless enumeration of actions by characters you're not familiar enough with.
But when I got past this part I really started enjoying the book. Especially after Jane's actions trying to get to Rachel, when she turns into some kind of supergranny!
It was not the best book I've ever read (because of the beginning), but if Brookmyres other books are like the second part of this one, I would definately like to read some more.