One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

Brookmyre’s Characters are finely drawn, the plot moves quickly with all the twists you need. The dialogue is spot on and the Scottish dialect is great fun when it makes a rare appearance. This book is a stand-alone. Having been hooked on Brookmyre by his Jack Parlabane series, I found this story even faster and tighter than the Parlebane books I have read, although I have only read two of those, and they were written earlier than this one. Perhaps the Parlebane series gets even better... can’t wait.

It's got a bit of everything: blood and guts, sharply observed social situations, distinct characters at cross purposes, and a few set pieces that are for falling on the floor and dying of laughter. When some British mercenaries take over a floating hotel hosting a ten year high school reunion, thinking that the assembled group is a bunch of rich investors, things happen. Mistakes are made. All to the benefit of the reader.

True to his roots, Brookmyre uses his fair share of Scots slang and colloquialisms. As an American reader, I found the Scottish language bits easy to pick up and had no problem integrating the Scot-centric words into the general flow of the narrative. That said, this is a great and really funny story. If you like Tim Dorsey, Christopher Moore, Robert Rankin, Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, or any other screwball hip writer, this is the stuff for you. Anyone else pooh-pooh-ing on this novel probably reads Grisham or Clancy for a laugh.

If you can amagine a book that takes you back to your childhood, and then transports you to your present day, with all your experiences under your belt, and then lets you be that child again, then this is the book.You will not be able to put this down, and I challenge anybody to read this book and not laugh out load once.I hope that anybody that reads this book gets as much enjoyment from it as me.