Product Description

Estela, who used to be Paul but has just had the operation, returns to Manchester on a business trip. The job (to kill her ex-boss) entails encounters with dodgy bouncers, bent coppers, DJs and drugs and sex.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #788831 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 230 pages

Review
Fresh from her latest sex-change operation in Brazil - she's coming down the last mile now - Estela Santos is sent back to her old stomping grounds by her drug-trade boss to assassinate Manchester businessman/crime lord John Burgess. Word is that when Estela was Paul Sorel, she (or he) ran out on Burgess after Burgess tried to rape him, avenging himself with thousands of amphetamine-laced pounds Burgess had laundered through clubs like the Gravity and the WARP. So if Burgess recognizes Estela, he'll at least be delighted to see her, right? Estela's life gets more complicated on page one, when she unwittingly picks up a Burgess travel agent named John Caxton, a.k.a. Yen, for a little after-hours fun. Next morning, Yen's decamped with Estela's Beretta and estrogen pills, leaving every indication besides that he knows she's after Burgess. Can things get any worse for our heroine? Well, the next time she sees Yen at the Gravity, he's dead, shot with her Beretta, and the shooter, his girlfriend Theresa O'Donnell, is only too happy to blame it all on the mysterious South American woman who practically ran over Trez getting to the body. Meantime, Burgess is still riding high; his gang is splintering into well-armed factions that blast each other as readily as you'd ask the time; and an awful lot of people are looking for Estela. One of the liveliest (and noisiest) of recent British bad-boy debuts races to a climax that the dialogue memorably summarizes: "Is anyone dead?" "Yeah, obviously, totally." (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

Excellent crime fiction with a cunning twist of reality
If any of you have watched the "New Order Story" about the fortunes and disorder witnessed by the famous Manchester band then you should read Acid Casuals. Not only does the author hail from Factory Records but this book covers the antics of a nightclub owner (aka Anthony Wilson, the New Order manager). Of course the names have been changed to protect the author but Wilson must be reeling after this gem of a book. Fantastic reading without this twist but if you're a fan of Manchester sub culture or New Order then this is a must. Oh how I laughed as here in the UK this book has recieved much acclaim as a result of Blincoe's slick, ultra-hip dialogue. Yet so few people know what this book is really all about! Tony Wilson finally gets what he deserved all along. Brilliant!

pacey, Manchester-based gangster thriller
This book is based on a Manchester boy's return to his hometown in a new guise - that of a Brazilian transexual (post-op)! On his return he is flung into the deep end of the Manchester drug and club scene in the 90s. His mission - to kill his old boss, who just happens to own one of the hippest clubs in town. With excellent characterisation, pacey prose and set in the new centre of England this book has it all. I normally read quickly but this book was so good it was over too soon. My only thought on finishing it was "how soon can I get this man's next book!" Read it.

wholly improbable and moribund yawnfest
If Nicholas Blincoe is one of the Chemical Generation,God help us. Blincoe returns to his usual theme of Manchester (yawn) again for this outing. What always comes across in his work is the underlying feeling that he hasn't got a clue about the characters he writes about. He writes about Gangsters but you get the feeling that if he were to ever actually meet one,he'd Brad Pitt his pants...