Customer Reviews

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I think l was hoping for a little more from this book. I felt it didn't live up to its cover expectations. It's a fairly interesting story of how a non-confrontational man, John, who has an odd relationship with his wife deals with the return of the bully from his childhood. The bully, Red, also happens to have had a relationship with John's wife. It's a case of David fighting back Goliath, which, more or less, achieves it's aim.

Irish comic Hughes loses the comedy in favor of a fairly clever piece of revenge fulfillment. The jacket blurbs speak of it being "a riveting thriller and blackly comic novel" and being an "urban gothic" a la Welsh, Kelman, Amis, and Self. I don't really see any of that: it's entertaining, though not riveting, and takes a while to get going before it can really be considered as a thriller, and I didn't get any comedy--black or otherwise--from it. It's a pretty decent tale about an antique dealer outside Dublin with a psychologically messed-up wife, and what happens when an old bully moves back into town and into their lives. There is a great twist at the end, but other than that, nothing too memorable.