Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

Synopsis
If society has the B-list celebrities it deserves, it now has a killer to match. Except that Simon Darcourt is a great deal more successful in his career choice than the average talent show contestant. He's also got the media taped - by the simple expedient of by-passing them completely and posting real-time coverage of his killings on the internet. He's got viewing figures to make the world's TV executives gasp in envy, and he's pulling the voyeuristic strings of every viewer by getting them to 'vote' to keep his captives alive. Angelique De Xavier, his previous nemesis, is drafted onto the police team trying to bring this one-man celebrity hate-fest to an end. But she can't do it alone, she needs the magical skills of her lover, only she doesn't know where Zal is and meanwhile a whole load of celebs are, literally, dying to be famous. An intelligent satire, a thriller with exhilarating pace - Christopher Brookmyre at his best.

Customer Reviews

A killer with ratings!

With "A Snowball in Hell" (I do recommend you read "A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away" and "The Sacred Art of Stealing" before this one) Brookmyre is again his sharp funny self with a very dark side. Simon Darcourt is a celebrity killer in more ways than one. First he enjoys murdering famous people, especially ones who have no talent or reason for being famous. But he has become a celebrity in his own right via his posting real time video of his killings and to make things really interesting he lets visitors to his site vote on wether the victim lives or dies. This makes for some wonderfully black humor. Darcourt's website is getting more hits than Google and he is more famous then the last winner of American Idol. It is again up to Angelique De Xavier to try and bring Darcourt to justice. This is a deliciously funny and dark read that I highly recommend. Best thriller I have read since "A Tourist in the Yucatan!"

Sheer class.....
Sheer class from Christopher Brookmyre in his latest offering. Slick, funny and ferociously nasty, "A Snowball in Hell" is impossible to read without being staggered by Brookmyre's mastery of his craft.

The humour is at times pitch black but beautifully observed and on the nail. Dialogue as always a joy.

A brilliant ending with a sniff of a door left open......? Let's hope so.

If you haven't done so, I recommend you read "A Big Boy....." and "The Sacred Art....." before "A Snowball....."

You won't regret it