Richard Asplin

My copy was one of those cheaply produced books, slightly smaller than average, where the text travels right into the gully between the pages making it a struggle to read. About sixty pages in I cracked the spine in exasperation. At least I could read to the end of each line but the pages started falling out. The sort of book that makes you think Kindles are a really good idea. The sort of book that puts me in a bad mood before I’ve even begun to evaluate the text. And really, the text wasn’t bad, the author writes with considerable wit and energy and is a whizz with puns. I just wish it had been easier to read – not just because of the production. Some of the humour was a bit convoluted, it took a bit of untwisting. And a lot of the time the story doesn’t seem to be moving on – just the narrator navel gazing and, well, punning. That’s probably the point – the whole thing surrounds a guy who loses his girlfriend and his job over a regrettable sexual incident and goes into a tailspin of blokey despair. It’s the sort of book that if it had been written by a female author would have come across as patronising in an eye-rolling aren’t-men-hopeless sort of way. I probably would have enjoyed it so much more if it hadn’t been such a faff to read.… (meer)

It's difficult to review a novel like this without plot spoiling - and the plot is what con fiction is all about. Suffice to say this is an very entertaining swindle-and-revenge story, that with enough red herrings for a Vladivostok fishmongers. Sorry - but that's the sort of leaden joke that Mr Asplin sometimes uses. Indeed, the first third is rather over-written, and the main antagonist's way of speaking becomes increasingly annoying. But get past that, and the story plays out at a good pace, and the who's-fooling-who will keep you guessing 'til the last few pages. And I certainly didn't see the final twist coming. Highly enjoyable holiday fare.… (meer)