One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night [Paperback]

Christopher Brookmyre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2003

Like a highball mix of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Brookmyre hits you hard and fast. Now Brookmyre is back with his most lethal book yet: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night. Gavin Hutchinson had it all planned out. A unique "floating holiday experience" on a converted North Sea oil rig, a haven for tourists who want a vacation but without the hassle of actually going anywhere. And what better way to test out his venture than to host a fifteenth-year high school reunion, the biggest social event of his life, except no one remembers who Gavin is. That, and his wife has discovered his philandering ways and plans to leave him with a very public announcement in front of his assembled guests. Throw in a band of mercenaries who crash the party even though they aren't on the guest list, and you have a wicked farce of a thriller from one of the most original voices in mystery fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Pulp Fiction meets And Then There Were None in this blend of thriller and black comedy. Brookmyre has a gift for keeping the reader continually off balance, sure only that some kind of horrific joke is about to be played, like the severed arm that falls out of the sky on the first day of grouse hunting in the Highlands, clonking a just-retired detective on the head. Two plot threads move toward each other: one involves a loose assemblage of mercenary terrorists, the other a 15-year class reunion organized by a classmate whom no one remembers. The threads knit together, sort of like a noose, when both groups board a North Shore oil rig outfitted for the tourist trade. With a dizzying display of mayhem and violence, the action then shuttles between the mercenaries' plot and the various amorous designs, one-upmanship games, and betrayals enacted by the reunion celebrants. Not for the faint of heart. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

'A high octane sense of the absurd' THE TIMES 'Tremendous fun' THE GUARDIAN 'The next star of the genre seems set to be Christopher Brookmyre' Mark Lawson 'Dark, violent and very funny.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'The premise is certainly implausable but Brookmyre has more than enough wit to pull it off.' SUNDAY TIMES 'There are enough twists and turns to satisfy the most expectant reader.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'This novel is furiously paced and wonderfully absurd, with more one-liners than a Columbian coke dealer... Brookmyre has no equal.' MAXIM 'Christopher Brookmyre's One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night is a lethal farce in which nothing goes quite according to plan. The mercenaries and terrorists who seize an oil rig converted into an international resort are almost too busy wanting to kill each other to get on with the job, for one thing, and, for another, the group they take hostage are a high-school reunion rather than the conference of the internationally famous they are expecting. One of the high-school year went on to be a famous gangland hardman before reforming, and another is a darkly brilliant comic whose career is on the skids--and a couple more have spent far too much time in the cinema not to know what Bruce Willis would do... This is a splendidly constructed darkly funny novel in which the oddest things prove suddenly lethal and in which the imagined geography of a closed environment is at once a trap, and a playground for heroism, double cross and the sudden discovery of true love. The running gags and knowingness about movies ought to be less amusing than they are, but Brookmyre's underlying affection for ordinary people and contempt for bullies stops them being self-indulgent.' AMAZON.CO.UK --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (March 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802139809
• ISBN-13: 978-0802139801
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,196,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So very Brookmyre - and it succeeds, January 18, 2002

By 

F. G. Hamer "MadManxMan" (Isle of Man) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Fine Day In the Middle of the Night (Paperback)

`One Fine Day in the Middle of The Night' is an all-action satire from Scotland's leading satirist - Christopher Brookmyre, a resolute left-winger with a great command of the English language and a publishing deal he's not afraid to use! Liberally sprinkled with popcorn culture references, Brookmyres writing is a strange mixture of the slightly more intelligent Hollywood escapism (?) and liberal left-wing conscience that guarantees a thick veneer of `smart' social commentary. Nevertheless, Brookmyre's unashamed homage to his action hero heritage ensures an attention-grabbing plot where, in true Die-Hard tradition, trigger-happy but fallible mercenaries take hostages at the gala preview of a ludicrous hotel built on a disused oil drilling rig. Not only does Brookmyre make some intelligent social commentaries about the police, the oil industry, the travel industry, and a few other sacred cows (like religion and politics), he does it in a way that entertains and amuses.

What sets Brookmyre apart from the pack is that he is obviously a skilled author (his sentence structures are not the short, declarative ones you would expect from an action writer) and yet he can drop in references to popular music, television and cinema without looking out of date. Unlike authors like Ben Elton, he has enough intelligence to control his social commentary, keeping it in equal proportion to the absurd plot of the book. It's not high literature, but it doesn't want to be. This makes the whole thing easier to stomach and while you may think, being an action novel, it will be an easy read, this is not always the case. Nonetheless, it's a very worthwhile read.

If you have difficulties getting hold of any Brookmyre titles, they're ALL available on amazon.co.uk (Including Brookmyre's latest offering `A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away')

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book, borrow it, lend it, get it, share it. Read it again., April 15, 2011

By 

Kevin Graham (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night (Paperback)

My stomach still aches from two of the funniest scenes I have read in the last ten years both contained in this book. Prize winning sheep and Bruce Wilis antics; brilliant.

I first read his 'all fun and games until someone loses an eye' and found myself jumping up with my arm raised over head shouting YES! Most embarassing. I have not been so gripped by an author for too long. This guy is fantastic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honing his skills, November 22, 2003

By 

J. Holliday "'james fan'" (Inverness) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night (Paperback)

Brookmyre is one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud. This was the second of his books that I read and (forgive the cliche) I could hardly put it down. He always has a semi-political message, but he masks it under some really funny adventure. The scene where the ex-cop starts gets involved in the story is truly genius. He has a talent for making you care about his characters. People do occasionally die in Brookmyre's books, but he stays well away from really bringing you down. This book will make just about anyone happy -- it's a great book for a quiet evening at home but won't tax you too greatly if you're looking for a holiday read.