“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Monday, June 2, 2008

The Embiggened O # 2,012: That All-Important CSNI Verdict

A Minister for Propaganda Elf writes: “Gerard Brennan is doing terrific work in support of Northern Irish crime writers over at Crime Scene Norn Iron, although it’s fair to say he lowered a tone a tad by taking a gander at the Grand Vizier’s humble offering, THE BIG O. Never one to look a gift horse in the wazoo, the GV hereby reprints the entire review and suggests that you really should take a wander over to CSNI to peruse the delights on offer. Peace, out.”
Declan Burke’s writing has earned recognition and praise from the likes of John Connolly, Ken Bruen and Adrian McKinty, and no doubt it will garner more when The Blue Orange is released by Harcourt in the near future. So I cracked open Declan Burke’s THE BIG O with pretty high expectations. It is, after all, the work of a crime connoisseur. Burke runs the popular Irish crime fiction-focused blog, Crime Always Pays, and knows more than a thing or two about the genre. So has all his virtual rubbing-of-elbows with crime fiction’s elite paid off? In a word, yes.
  In THE BIG O, the cool and sexy Karen meets Ray, a mysterious Morrissey lookalike, while she’s sticking up a convenience store. She invites him for a drink and it’s not long before she finds out that there’s a lot more to this guy with the dodgy fringe than meets the eye. Could be they could work together on a pretty big score. So long as they don’t let a little thing like love get in the way. Unfortunately, Karen’s ex-boyfriend, Rossi, is getting out of jail and he wants his Ducati, his .44 Magnum and his sixty grand back. Things are about to get ... complicated.
  THE BIG O is a furiously-paced crime caper employing a huge cast and shifting character perspective. The novel is chockfull of Hiaasen-esque humour and there’s a distinct lack of 2D bit-players. The plot is great fun, but on a slightly negative note, relies heavily on coincidence. However, as a reader, I enjoyed myself so much that I was more than happy to accept it.
  What struck me most was Burke’s skill at painting very believable female characters. I’m no expert myself, but the bits I read out to my wife met with a nod of approval. You couldn’t say fairer than that, could you? Burke has taken the effort to present us with a female protagonist that isn’t just a perky pair of boobs and a few witty double-entendres. Karen, Madge and Doyle are three very real ladies with very real strengths and ... not exactly weaknesses ... idiosyncrasies, maybe?
  The format makes the book a perfect candidate for newspaper serialisation. Reading it, I was reminded of Bateman’s I PREDICT A RIOT. The story is told in bite-sized chapterettes that are conveniently labelled by the character driving the POV. In the early stages of the novel, this structure makes it a bit difficult to connect with the characters, but twenty-odd pages in, the aul brain gets into the swing of it and the sheer fun of the story and character-development fairly carries you along.
  As a setting, Burke decided to go with Anywhere USA/UK/Ireland, with, in my mind, leanings towards the States. Knowing his penchant for the Irish crime scene I was expecting the novel to be set on the Emerald Isle with all sorts of wittiness smacking of blarney. However, this shrewd move may have contributed towards his securing a US publication deal, so more power to his elbow.
  THE BIG O is a fun-filled and intense joyride that’ll dump you on the kerb way too soon. The humour’s great, but there’s a lot of poignancy too, so don’t sink too far into that sense of security. Burke whips it out from under the reader ruthlessly as he persuades you to feel sorry for the bad guys but shows them no mercy throughout to keep ‘em mean. The dialogue is wicked and the prose slick and stylish. This man’s going to go a long way. – Gerard Brennan

5 comments:

Josh Schrank said...

Things are really rolling it appears GV. By the way, if one of your signings actual does bring you into Ohio, and if you can spare an extra day, I'll take you out a DNR shooting range and let you have at it with an assortment of pistols and revolvers I have. I figure we can get some great photos for your promos and you can find out just how much a 9mm concealed carry pistol stings the hand. Call it research and you can right the extra time off on your taxes. ;)

Peter Rozovsky said...

Do horses have wazoos?
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"

http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Peter Rozovsky said...

Do horses have wazoos?

I mean, I know horses have wazoos, but I think in horses, they're called fetlocks or something.
===================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Declan Burke said...

Fetlocks? Maybe in Philly ... Here in Ireland you'd want to be looking somewhere around the horse's nether regions ... Cheers, Dec

Declan Burke said...

Josh - You think a concealed 9mm stings the hand? Ever misfired a four-elastic catapult? Man, you only ever make that mistake once ... Cheers, Dec