Review'A hectic comedy thriller!a rip-roaring knockabout farce!refreshingly unpompous, faintly dishevelled and often very funny.' Mail on Sunday 'At the centre of his first novel, a light comedy, is a terrorist plot of frightening ingenuity!the comedy is reminiscent of Tom Sharpe.' Sunday Times 'Johnson scores in his comic handling of those most sensitive issues!he succeeds in being charming and sincere!Boris Johnson has written a witty page-turner.' Observer 'Among the hilarious scenes of events and the wonderful dialogue which keeps the story moving at a cracking pace, Johnson uncovers some home truths!I can give no higher praise to this book than to say that I lapped it up at a single uproarious sitting.' Irish Examiner 'As an author, the Shadow Arts Minister is in a class of his own: ebullient, exhausting but irresistible.' Daily Mail 'fluent, funny material!the writing is vintage, Wodehousian Boris!it has been assembled with skill and terrific energy and will lift morale in the soul of many.' Evening Standard 'This is a comic novel, but Johnson is never far away from making serious points, which he leads us towards with admirable stealth.' Daily Telegraph 'a splendidly accomplished and gripping first novel!Few authors could get away with it, but this one most certainly does. Highly recommended.' Sunday Telegraph 'The rollicking pace and continuous outpouring of comic invention make the book!The guardians of our author's future need not worry. This is a laurel from a new bush, but certainly a prizewinner.' Spectator 'invents a genre all of his own: a post 9/11 farce!a pacy, knockabout political thriller which takes in would-be terrorists careering through Westminster in a stolen ambulance, a visit from the US president, celebrity chefs, snipers, tabloids chasing extra-curricular!as much fun reading it as Johnson had writing it.' GQ 'As well as Mr Johnson's inside knowledge of Parliament and his exuberantly idiosyncratic prose style, Mr Johnson is also brilliant at characterisation -- each one of his cast of hundreds leaps to life in a few sentences!and yes, I laughed out loud approximately every 30 minutes.' Country Life About the AuthorBoris Johnson is the editor of the Spectator, MP for Henley, writes a column for the Daily Telegraph and has just been appointed Shadow Arts Minister. He lives in London and Oxfordshire with his wife and their children. Views: 16
Nothing ever seems to happen in the sleepy English town of Mumford – unless you count the man with the axe in his back, staggering down the street getting blood everywhere and leaving a vacancy on the Parish Council... Into the fray steps Detective Inspector Bradley of the C.I.D. Although he appears to be a plodding buffoon, incapable of detecting his own backside, that is exactly what he is. But when he teams up with an alcoholic, drug-addled writer researching a detective novel, together they will blunder towards the identity of the "vacant casualty". They just hope to get there before everyone in the town is murdered. In this potty-mouthed, depraved, disrespectful parody, strewn with casual violence and sexual deviancy, you will discover aliens, farting tea-ladies, car chases, serial killers and lashings and lashings of tortoise milk. But no immigrants. This is the countryside, after all. The Vacant Casualty is not prepared, authorized, licensed, approved, or endorsed... Views: 16
On a mission to sabotage a nanovirus research facility on a Separatist-held planet, four clone troopers operate under the very noses of their enemies. The commadnos are outnumbered and outgunned, deep behind enemy lines with no backup—and working with strangers instead of trusted teammates. Matters don’t improve when Darman, the squad’s demolition expert, gets cut off from the others during planetfall. Even Darman’s apparent good luck in meeting Jedi Padawan vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience. For the isolated clone commandos and stranded Jedi, a long, dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists, and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery … and death. It’s a virtual suicide mission for anyone—except Republic Commandos. Views: 16
Jessie Driver returns in the second of this fresh, streetwise London-based series from 'the new Mistress of Thrillers' Sunday Express The decaying Marshall Street Baths in the heart of Soho are a den for drug-users and the homeless -- the perfect hang-out for a teenage runaway. But when DI Jessie Driver goes there in search of a missing girl, she finds something quite different: the mummified body of a man, buried in the rat-infested basement. Who was he? And how does this murder relate to the tragic drowning of a young boy years earlier? Jessie's investigation takes her on a journey through the past -- the kidnapping of a little girl; the descent into madness of a bereaved father -- but the dangers she'll face are very much in the present. Views: 16
FIRST LOVE ISN'T FOREVER...Exhibit A: Faith's little sister, Skye, who muddled through her first divorce at the tender age of twenty-one. Faith has always provided damage control when Skye's love life gets too reminiscent of a daytime drama. But now that Faith has finally found the job, if not the man, of her dreams -- as a culinary writer, currently living la dolce vita in Italy -- she can't just jet back to small-town Minnesota to help her suddenly pregnant little sister heal her broken heart and anemic bank account. BUT NEVER SAY NEVER!Faith has been putting off this homecoming for years, ever since her dad left her family in the lurch, her mother left her in charge of Skye, and a sub-zero case of cold feet led her to call off the engagement to her high school sweetheart, Flynn. But a return to the amber fields of grain might just be what Faith needs to gain some perspective on her past -- and figure out h... Views: 15
Kat Lind, an American expatriate living in London with her entrepreneur husband and their young son, attends an opening at a prestigious Mayfair art gallery and is astonished to find her own face on the walls. The portraits are evidence of a long-ago love affair with the artist, Daniel Blake. Unbeknownst to her, he has continued to paint her throughout the intervening years. Kat is seduced by her reflection on canvas and when Daniel appears in London, she finds herself drawn back into the sins and solace of a past that suddenly no longer seems so far away.When the portraits catch the attention of the public, threatening to reveal not only her identity, but all that lies beyond the edges of the canvases, Kat comes face to face with the true price of their beauty and with all that she now could lose. Moving between the glamour of the London art world and the sensuous days of a love affair in a dusty Paris studio, life and art bleed together as Daniel and Kat's lives... Views: 15
Welcome to Castle Kidbury - a pretty town in a green West Country valley. It's home to all sorts of people, with all the stresses and joys of modern life, but with a town square and a proper butcher's. It also has, for our purposes, a rash of gory murders ... ***Fast-paced and funny, this is a must-read for all fans of a classic murder mystery - think The Vicar of Dibley meets Midsomer Murders *** Jess Castle is running away. Again. This time she's running back home, like she swore she never would. Castle Kidbury, like all small towns, hums with gossip but now it's plagued with murder of the most gruesome kind. Jess instinctively believes that the hippyish cult camped out on the edge of town are not responsible for the spate of crucifixions that blights the pretty landscape. Her father, a respected judge, despairs of Jess as she infiltrates the cult and manages, not for the first time, to get herself arrested. Rupert... Views: 15
