Product Description

Gavin is creating a unique 'holiday experience', every facility any tourist who hates abroad will ever want, will all be available on a converted North Sea oil rig. To test the facilities he's hosting a reunion for his old school (none of his ex-classmates can remember him, but what the heck, it's free). He is so busy showing off that he doesn't notice that another group have invited themselves along -- a collection of terrorist mercenaries who are occasionally of more danger to themselves than to the public. And they in turn are unaware that Inspector Mac Gregor has got wind of their activities. Within twenty-four hours Gavin's dream has blown to the four winds, along with a lot of other things. Fast, rabidly funny, and seriously over the top. And for the author's own view on his books visit his website at www.brookmyre.clara.net

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13257 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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.

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 is an overblown comic novel that blows up everything in the path of its feeble plot, involving the drunken reunion, 15 years on, of the ex-pupils of a grim Catholic high school in Scotland. The good, the bad and the psychotic gather on board a disused oil platform now transformed at great cast into the Floating Paradise resort. Events then go horribly wrong, of course, as the party is attacked by ineffectual merceneries on a mission of destruction. Aiming for a cross between Irvine Welsh and Tom Sharpe this novel shoots itself in the foot and limps away bleeding. (Kirkus UK)

THE GUARDIAN
'Tremendous fun'

Customer Reviews

Rib-tickling
Nobody outside Carl Hiassen can write satire as black as Brookmyre. But the Scot's vicious humour surpasses anything the American has ever written.

Mad, and hugely entertaining
Typical Brookmyre, and a very good example of why his books are so entertaining. The plot is slightly potty, but really quite cruelly witty -surely striking a chord with all of us who have ever considered attending a school reunion (and possibly considered turning up with an Ak-47 to finish the job! There's very good reasons why most of us loose touch with our old schoolmates).

As with his other books, casting the movie (why isn't there one yet?) can keep you entertained for some while. Wheel out all of your favourite Scottish actors and see who you would prefer.

Violent, daft, and a great laugh from start to finish, this is perfect for an undemanding read in between all that brain stretching stuff I'm sure you normally read!

"Die Hard" with Special Brew ...

Brilliant!!
This is the second Brookmyre book I have read and I definitely want to continue reading more. It reads like a Glaswegian 'Die Hard' and the dialogue is witty fast and very funny. I loved how the hostages reverted easily back into their roles at high school and the tensions between the gunmen.