Customer Reviews

Peril: A Ger Mayes Thriller

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've read many reviews of this book that talk about how likeable the main character is...how one finds oneself pulling for him despite all his flaws, etc. If I'm honest, I wanted to punch the main character in the face. Repeatedly. I wished him nothing but suffering and his comeuppance, and I nearly threw my Kindle across the room each time he didn't receive it. At times likes this I would exclaim (sadly, out loud), "I can't believe he's going to get away with this, as well!" All those scenes centreing around trains and he couldn't have been hit by one?!

It takes a special kind of writer to provoke such a visceral reaction to a fictional character. Ruby Barnes is a member of this very exclusive club. I loved the dark humour running throughout the novel, I loved the vivid sense of environment, I loved the ending and I loved that I wanted to buy a plane ticket to Dublin just to hunt down Ger--again, a fictional character--and kick him soundly in the bullocks. My only complaint, if it can even be labelled as such, is not to call it "a quirky crime novel." I think people will figure this out, much to their pleasure. I look forward to this becoming a series. Well done!

If you're looking for an everyone lives happily ever after tale, keep on looking, you won't find it here. The world seems to be crashing down around Ger in this witty, well written, engaging story. Even though much of Ger's "peril" is due to his own lack of self control I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he dug himself in deeper and deeper from one bad situation to the next. A very enjoyable read.

This is phenomenal writing. The author has an absolute knack for sketching out characters and pulling the reader into their lives and motivations. As a result the reader finds themselves sympathising with situations and decisions that they normally wouldn't.

I'll admit to varying between 4 & 5 stars on this one, because I've never met a character I disliked so much (Bella from Twilight doesn't come close). The main character in this book, Ger, made me want to reach through the pages and slap him, repeatedly - probably because I've had the misfortune to date similar types in my own life.

My normal response to a character I completely dislike is to close the book. However, Ruby Barnes has a knack for keeping you reading simply with the quality of his writing, and for me, the other characters in the book had me hooked.

A fine look at what people will - and won't - do in extraordinary circumstances, and a great study of living, working and dying in a gritty urban world. For me, the writing trumped the flaws in Ger, who seems to suffer from TSTL (too stupid to live)syndrome and an ego that could sink the Titanic all over again.

I would love to "meet" some of the characters I read about. Ger is one of those characters but not for the usual reasons. I cannot remember ever reading an entire book and detesting the main character this much. He is the guy you want to get hit by a car, mugged on a subway, stricken by a terminal illness... you get the picture. Yet, through all of the elaborate schemes and lies, it is impossible to stop reading the story. Maybe I finished reading just to find out if karma works- whatever. One of the most engrossing stories I have ever read. Any author that makes me commit to a character I wish disaster upon is superb. THE BAPTIST is my next kindle purchase.

Part way through reading "Peril," I thought that Ruby Barnes had written a surprisingly good "bloke book" for a woman. OK, now I get it. Ruby Barnes is an Irishman, and quite an author. This book has movie option written all over it, and I would certainly look forward to it hitting the big screen.

The protagonist, Ger Mayes, is a middle-class Scot married to Jo, an Irish woman, and so they live in Ireland. Ger also has a mistress - Jo's friend Renee, a best friend in gay drug-enthusiast, Tom, and a civil service job he hates. On the short side of middle age, Ger drinks too much, womanizes too much, and has too little money to support his "needs." When he drunkenly murders a Romanian beggar who'd assaulted him, Ger finds himself caught in a web of deceit, drugs, and death, all of which land him directly in the sights of the Irish police, drug dealers, and a corrupt legal system. Let's call this Irish noir. Ger's never quite sure what he's gotten himself into, doesn't know how to play the game, and doesn't know who he can trust. In truth, the person he can least trust is himself. Ger Mayes is one of those smaller-than-life characters who sees himself larger as through in funhouse mirror. He foresees a big payoff, and always thinks he's just a step away. It's rather like an optical delusion.

This is a good read, suspenseful, funny, tragic, and finally just. I highly recommend "Peril."

One note - I read this as an e-book provided through Smashwords. There is a missing electronic page, but it didn't detract from my comprehension or enjoyment.

Extremely well written book, full of dark humor and irony. The main character is not all that likable, yet you find yourself pulling for him. In spite of his womanizing, poor judgment, and mishaps, you hope he will somehow come out on the other side. You hope he will pull off the big drug buy and get his life in order. One weird thing after another happens to this man! The ending took me by surprise.
Ruby Barnes is an author with awesome talent. I have to say well done! I would recommend this book to anyone. I couldn't stop turning the pages to see what was going to happen next! This book is WELL worth the buy. Once you read it, you will feel like you stole it; it's that good.

Review written by co-author of Betrayed

Ruby Barnes is a very funny man, in the fine tradition of Irish storytellers..

The anti-hero of Peril, Ger Mayes, is a scoundrel, a lovable rogue, a thoroughly incompetent reprobate whose cavalcade of tribulations goes from ridiculous to hopeless. This is a rollicking good read that guarantees to entertain.

Barnes shifts POV from first person present to 3d omni toward the back end as his means of explaining all of the details that have taken place off-screen to get Mayes into his predicament with the Garda - I found this jarring, and also a bit of a cheat. Hence the one star penalty. And the ending was somewhat abrupt.

All in all, forgivable in light of Barnes' superb humor and gift of gab.

He's not the standard hero, he's not the typical male lead; he's a real man; about half as clever as he thinks he is, where thinking is a reaction, not an action.
One part of me thought he's too stupid for words, whereas the other part thought - there but for the grace of God....
A clever story, well told, with a good supporting cast round a character that defies pigeon-holing.

It's the mark of a truly great author when he can create a character that is not only flawed, but is downright unlikeable - and yet you find yourself rooting for him, sympathizing with him, and hoping he'll come out on top. Ruby Barnes has created such a character in Ger Mayes.

It's almost impossible to tell you much about the story without giving it away, just suffice it to say you must read Ger's story. This is a man who can't make a good decision, ever, and doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes, either. And yet, he has a big heart that keeps getting in his way of being completely self-absorbed, as he'd like to be. You're going to like him, and keep hoping he'll finally make that decision that should seem so obvious, to pull himself out of the tangled web he's created for himself, before he's eaten by the black widow.

A seriously good book, with great writing and prose, hard to put down once you start. A nice, amusing look into real life in Ireland, with characters who you can imagine finding in any corner of the world. You'll find yourself thinking about Ger long after you've read the last, inevitable word. I can hardly wait to see what springs from the mind of Ruby Barnes next.

The main character in Peril is Ger Mayes, a man who needs different women for his different needs. He's a hedonist of sorts, and his story reminds all of us that, to some degree, we too have the same affliction. My kind of guy, Ger is not much for conventionalism, and like anyone else who isn't, he continually pays the price.