Product Description

The murder of a media moghul in his country mansion appears to be the result of him disturbing a gang of would-be thieves. The robbers are swiftly caught, but when they are unexpectedly moved to a different prison they escape. Back in Edinburgh, a young solicitor reveals to the press that one of the subjects had left a letter with her some time before the break-in which proves his innocence. Jack Parlabane, journo-extraordinaire, is intrigued, but when he approaches the lawyer he discovers someone else is trying to get near her - someone with evil intent, political connections of the highest order and a corrupt agenda. Fast-moving, blackly humorous and intriguingly credible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11196 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
'Violent, funny, Scottish...a publisher's dream.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Irvine Welsh out of Iain Rankin.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'Tough, in your face...studded with a lot of black humour.' IRISH TIMES 'Tartan Noir' THE INDEPENDENT 'Sassy, irreverant, stylish' THE TIMES 'Sharp, funny...with strong characters and sharp dialogue.' TLS 'Thrillingly unpleasant.' ESQUIRE 'Excellent plotting and a goodly amount of acidic one-liners.' SCOTSMAN 'Brookmyre knows how to plot excitingly and with daring touches of strangeness.' GUARDIAN 'Deviosly plotted, expertly constructed...[Brookmyre] displays a seemingly natural flair for sustaining suspense.' SCOTSMAN

THE TIMES
'Sassy, irreverant, stylish'

About the Author
Christopher Brookmyre is a Glaswegian by birth, but is now a resident of Inverness. He's been a journalist and reviewer (most recently on Screen International and The Scotsman), is a dedicated football fan and is currently working on his third novel. He is 27.

Customer Reviews

Country of the Blind
“Country of the Blind” is the first novel of Christopher Brookmyre’s that I have read and I can say with a great degree of certainty that after thoroughly enjoying this pacey and exciting thriller that I will be coming back for more.

The book features the exploits of maverick journalist Jack Parlabane and apparently this likeable figure first appeared in one of Brookmyre’s earlier books “Quite Ugly one Morning” however for those like myself who haven’t (yet) read this earlier book this later book is perfectly enjoyable in its own right.

Set against the mounting dissatisfaction at the ineffective and over self-indulgent Tory government of John Major all hell breaks loose when Dutch media mogul Roland Voss is found murdered in a rambling country house in Scotland. Next to Voss’s body is that of his murdered wife and their two slain bodyguards lay outside their room. Almost immediately four likely lads are arrested for the crime including former burglar Thomas McInnes, his son Paul and a very strange guy who likes to be known as Spammy. The one sensible thing Thomas has done is lodged a letter with a lawyer before the crime has taken place. When this lawyer, Nicole Carrow, turns up at the Police station demanding to see her client the last thing she probably expected would be to have an attempt made on her life within hours.

As I say the book has a fantastic and intriguing storyline with lots of plots and sub-plots but for all this it never gets bogged down in detail or gets too clever for its own good. The writing is exciting and keeps the action bowling along at a cracking pace. The only fault I can pick with it is that Brookmyre does at points “write in Scottish” and I’d much rather imagine these accents than try to figure out what the characters are actually saying.

The characters are great fun and the writing is extremely humorous at times. There’s also a goodly portion of political commentary along the way which probably won’t agree with all readers but certainly for those of a left of centre persuasion it will be both poignant and amusing.

I can only really really recommend this book and I will definitely be trying one of his other books very soon.

There's been a murder - part 2
I have become hooked on Brookmyre even more so now that I have finished 'Country of the Blind'. This book whilst not as good as 'Quite Ugly' is still a right good read, although it does take a wee while to get in to it. Stick with it as will pick up. The dialogue is first class. (In particular look out for Spammy's words of wisdom.) If you read on the bus or the train, prepare to get some funny looks as this book has some (CLICHÉ ALERT!) laugh out loud moments!!

If you decide buy this book - Gaun Yersel!

Brookmyre does it again
After Quite Ugly One Moring I couldn't wait to get my teeth into the next in line from Brookmyre. Like some others who have reviewed this I too felt the start slow as the characters were introduced and the scene set but there is enough of the CB humour I love to keep me going until the familiar Brookmyre sky rocket of plot and laughs grips halfway through taking the climax to neighbour waking laughter once again. The scene in the woods with the football kick had me crying with laughter. Get it. Get them all. You will not grieve your lost sleep.