The Big O is now a big e-book

A while back I glommed onto an Irish crime novel called The Big O.

"The deliciously complicated plotting," I wrote, "the wry dialogue and the sympathy Burke engenders for his cast of characters made this one of the most fun and purely pleasurable reads I've had in a while."

Reviewers invoked names such as Westlake, Leonard, and Hiaasen, which lets you know you'll crack a smile reading it. And now you can read it on your mobile reading device for $4.99, as well you should. Find out why Detectives Beyond Borders called The Big O a "tour de fun."

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I sent Alan Glynn a verbal high five a year and half ago for exposing narrative's use as a contemporary weasel word in his novel Bloodland. His new Graveland, out this spring, does something similar with going forward, as well it should.

Read more about corporate and government weasel words at the Weasel Words Web site.

© Peter Rozovsky 2013

Two songs, two crime writers, one question for readers

Two of my favorite Irish crime writers fall nicely into analogies with two of my favorite Irish folk songs:

Declan Burke's humorous caper novel The Big O is like the humorous caper ballad "Whiskey in the Jar," and Adrian McKinty's harsh, sometimes grimly funny Michael Forsythe novels are like the harsh, sometimes grimly funny "Rocky Road to Dublin."

Readers: What crime novels match up with songs in a similar manner? (In a match-up of a different kind, "Rocky Road to Dublin" is something like an Irish "Living for the City," especially the more-intense album version of that Stevie Wonder song.)

© Peter Rozovsky 2008

A little bit of The Big O

Declan Burke has been waxing even more enthusiastic than usual these days, and why not? His second novel, The Big O, called a "tour de fun" by Detectives Beyond Borders and a lot of additional nice things by a lot of additional reviewers, has its U.S. release from Harcourt Sept. 22.

I singled out the novel for its opening, and now you can read the first three chapters on the book's Amazon page. I recommend that you do so. Then I recommend that you read the rest of the chapters as well, and if you suspect that that's a suggestion you seek out the whole book, you're right.

I wrote last year that "the deliciously complicated plotting, the wry dialogue and the sympathy Burke engenders for his cast of characters made this one of the most fun and purely pleasurable reads I've had in a while." I've had no reason to repent that opinion. The Big O is still one of the two or three funniest crime novels I've ever read.

© Peter Rozovsky 2008

Technorati tags:
Declan Burke
Irish crime fiction
comic crime fiction

“The Big O” is coming to the U.S.A.

I am pleased to announce that Harcourt will publish Declan Burke’s sidesplitting and compassionate second novel, The Big O, in the U.S.“in the very near future,” according to Burke’s blog, Crime Always Pays .

Raved Detectives Beyond Borders about this absurdly entertaining caper story: “Each character takes time for some humorous introspection, which makes the story a fast-moving caper built up of leisurely episodes. Perhaps [Ken] Bruen had this in mind when he called Burke's writing `a joy, so seamless you nearly miss the sheer artistry of the style and the terrific, wry humour.'"

Burke is an entertaining and educational blogger, too. Until Crime Always Pays came along, I had no idea what a hup-ya was, not to mention an Interweb yokeybus. I hope you'll join me in congratulating Burke on this deal. If you haven't read The Big O yet, you have a treat in store.

© Peter Rozovsky 2007

Technorati tags:
Declan Burke
Irish crime fiction
comic crime fiction

O, man! (Declan Burke)

Declan Burke reveals in an interview with Shots Ezine that his riotous, compassionate and very funny caper novel, The Big O, owes its existence to his exasperated wife's having flushed a chick-lit novel down "a metaphorical khazi."

You can read the interview to find out what a khazi is. You'll also get this entertaining writer's insights on Irish crime fiction, his fellow Irish crime writers, and his frustration with publishers who won't take chances. Burke talks at length about what he went through to get The Big O published, and I suspect that his comments will be of special interest to authors and would-be authors.

In June I called The Big O "one of the most fun and purely pleasurable reads I've had in a while." That still holds true, so why write about it again? Because it's a hell of a novel, and maybe if enough buzz is generated, and enough readers bang their bowls on their high chairs, a U.S. publisher will bring it out on this side of the ocean.

Until then, you can order The Big O through Hag's Head Press. While you're waiting for it to arrive, read my review here, along with the novel's hilariously deadpan opening lines.

© Peter Rozovsky 2007

Technorati tags:
Declan Burke
Irish crime fiction
comic crime fiction

Declan Burke's funny and compassionate caper

Declan Burke's second novel comes with a testimonial from that indefatigable blurbster Ken Bruen, and the remarks are noteworthy both for their source and their content.

The pace of events in this kidnap caper may remind readers of Bust, that hilarious novel that Bruen wrote with Jason Starr. As in that book, a plot rapidly spins beyond the control of its plotters. But, in contrast to Bruen and Starr's book, which reads like a joyous, riotous, caffeine-, booze- and speed-fueled all-nighter, there is something sweet and gently introspective about most of this novel.

Burke divides the book into seven days and each day into a series of very short chapters, each bearing the name of one character and written from that character's point of view. Short, choppy chapters are a fine way to build suspense; one wonders what will happen when these personalities finally, inevitably, collide. But each character takes time for some humorous introspection, which makes the story a fast-moving caper built up of leisurely episodes. Perhaps Bruen had this in mind when he called Burke's writing "a joy, so seamless you nearly miss the sheer artistry of the style and the terrific, wry humour."

I have two quibbles with plot devices that crop up late in the book, and I suspect Burke felt more confident of his ability to sustain the story than to end it (no spoilers here; you'll have to read the novel yourself). The quibbles detracted from my enjoyment only briefly, though. The deliciously complicated plotting, the wry dialogue and the sympathy Burke engenders for his cast of characters made this one of the most fun and purely pleasurable reads I've had in a while. And what better way to convey some of that fun than with the novel's opening words:

In the bar, Karen drinking vodka-tonic, Ray on brandy to calm his nerves, she told him how people react to death and a stick-up in pretty much the same way: shock, disbelief, anger, acceptance.

"The trick being," Karen said, "to skip them past the anger straight into acceptance."

© Peter Rozovsky 2007

Technorati tags:
Declan Burke
Irish crime fiction
comic crime fiction