Meantime: The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller

Description

*Pre-Order Now* Glasgow, in the aftermath of the Independence referendum, is a strange place. Marina Katos's body is found in a park and the police don't seem to know or care who committed the crime. In a haze of tranquillisers, hallucinogens and Valium, Felix McAveety decides to solve the murder of Marina, his best friend. But to break through his drug-induced fog and get closer to the truth Felix enlists the help of a dying crime novelist, Jane Pickford, and his crisis-ridden friend Donnie. Their quest takes them into the dark heart of Scottish politics, the orbit of drug dealers, and the matrix of AI, encountering Independence activists, the intelligence services and stalkers, as they seek justice for Marina. Meantime is an exhilarating, wild ride through Glasgow's multicultural present and examines its colonial past. It's dazzlingly funny, grappling with big ideas, and is heartbreakingly tinged with personal and political loss.

Frankie Boyle is one of the UK's premier comedians and writers and is the author of three bestselling non-fiction books including My Shit Life So Far, and Work! Consume! Die! Boyle is also known for his shows New World Order (BBC2), Tramadol Nights (Ch4), Frankie Boyle's Tour of Scotland (BBC2), and his best selling DVD's and Netflix Special. Frankie also regularly contributes articles for the broadsheet press. He has topped the podcast charts with the first three volumes of his eight volume Promethiad sequence.

A darkest noir, unputdownable crime novel that swerves and surprises, with a gut-punch ending. I loved it! * Denise Mina * A gloriously funny mystery that bucks the "cosy crime' trend" . . . Peppered with one-liners, it reads Raymond Chandler in Glasgow . . . Boyle regularly deploys the beautifully offbeat imagery that characterises the best of his stand-up * Daily Telegraph * Starts off the funniest noir - like a Glaswegian Big Lebowski - then takes you somewhere suddenly heartbreaking . . . A debut novel that makes me absolutely INSIST there is more to come * Marina Hyde * The gags are so good that the book doesn't outstay its welcome [...] anybody who loves jet-black humour is in for a treat * Daily Express * Reads like a twisted Caledonian take on Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. Inherent vices and scalpel-sharp jokes vie with a very human concern for those least garlanded in the rat race of life * Ian Rankin * Part whodunnit, part social safari, part extended stand-up monologue . . . the novel is full of scintillating sentences and perfect lines of dialogue * Sunday Times * An enjoyably dark and entertaining tranche of Glasgow noir . . . Imagine Withnail and I stumbling into a Bond movie co-written by William McIlvanney and Mick Herron . . . [A] deft, engaging thriller * Observer * A surprisingly moving and beautiful journey through one man's sh*tshow of a friend's death/hangover * Lucy Prebble, screenwriter for Succession * A fine slice of contemporary noir, full of acute insight into the way we live now -- John Williams * Mail on Sunday * Just finished this and f*ck me, it's total class!! I'm sure all the expletive swears are coming out for this one - and so they should. Ace -- Helen Stanton, Forum Books Meantime is a tremendous book: a detective story full of twists and turns that is as beautifully written as it is darkly comic. . . Not surprisingly, Meantime is very, very funny. But it is also a gripping work of stylised crime fiction that marks, I suspect, a new and exciting chapter in Boyle's multi-faceted career -- Matthew D'ancona * Tortoise * Remarkably moving * Scotsman * A sharply written, memorable read * Scottish Field * Meantime flies along, filled with laughs and moments that pull you up sharp * Sun (Scotland) * Boyle's key strength is in creating such a believable milieu, even when events are exaggerated, underpinned but never derailed by a tongue-in-cheek humour * Chortle * Frankie Boyle's fiction debut is genuinely engrossing * Independent * It's both funny and moving * Guardian *