A Snowball in Hell

This is Brookmyer at his iconoclastic best. An impossible plot is laid down and with the many twist and turns eventually comes to a satisfactory outcome, not without a few laughs, feeling of revulsion and nail-biting tension and a few sacred cows exploded on the way.

Well told and worth the sometimes excessive blood, gore and bad language - part and parcel of Brookmyer's well-crafted stories.

I like unabridged books, but as commented by another reviewer an abridged version of this novel would have probably been better, as so many of the themes concerning celebrity culture were repeated time and again. But on a more positive note an execellent story with numerous twists and turns, very well read with good characterisation. On my download there appeared to be two minor faults, what seemed a very out of place chapter early in the book, and later on a chapter that stops mid sentance, but neither really detract from what was on the whole an enjoyable listen.

I had bought this when it was first published and enjoyed it at the time so I did wonder if i was just wasting my money getting the audio as I knew the plot but the narrator in this reading is excellent and gave life to the characters in a much better way than I did in my head when first reading.

My expectations were high for this book, as I have long been a fan of Christopher Brookmyer, but it was a huge disappointment. The plot is extremely clever, and the story contains surprising twists, hence the two stars, but I actually found myself wishing I had bought an abridged version of the book. I felt that Brookmyer was so keen to let the reader know his views on the shallow nature of today's Celebrity culture which, I totally agree, blights our society, that he kept thumping the reader over the head with them. The smug 'yes, isn't everybody stupid?' prose eventually began to grate to such an extent that I wanted to reach for the TV remote and switch on 'X Factor'.
The excessive padding to the story line detracted from, what should have, been an entertaining read.
Perhaps Brookmyer was being paid by the word for this one?

What can I say - he gets even better. Black humour and satire, at its best. Thank you Mr Brookmyre ? once again. More please!

To fully appreciate this you need to have already read/listened to, the previous novels featuring Simon Darcourt.

So often a sequel disappoints. This builds on the characters and has a truly inspired sense of humour, black but not too black, a bit off kilter but not twisted. A great plot that keeps the attention and characters you can relate to. Thoroughly recommended.

As a long time fan of the author, I have enjoyed every one of his books to date. My only complaint is the obsession with body fluids!

I would have given this book 5 stars if it wasn't for the first 45 minutes. I thought I had missed a huge chunk of the book out, I really couldn't get into it and very nearly gave up. My brother who recommended this author had said how good he was so I persevered - and was very glad I had! there are a lot of good plot twists and the characters are really well portrayed. Definately worth listening past the first 45 minutes! I will have to listen to it again to see why I didn't get it the first time.