Meantime: The gripping debut crime novel from Frankie Boyle

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He said of writing, in comparison to stand-up comedy, that "you don't have to go and sell it to people". May, Marina's flatmate, tells Felix of her controlling relationship with Malcolm, a Large Hadron Collider conspiracy theorist.

Overall a very good quality service from this seller and I would not hesitate to recommend this seller. Set in Scotland in 2015, Felix is a drug addict and when a friend of his Marina is murdered in a local park, not trusting the police to do their job, Felix decides in his drugged fuelled haze to try to find out what happened. The rest of it is just the main character commenting on politics, social ills, general opinions on life, even ramblings like commenting on each track on a Beatle's album. Jake Kerridge of The Daily Telegraph found that—similar to Raymond Chandler's novels—atmosphere-building, misanthropic jokes and social commentary are prioritised over plot and the message is not nihilistic as Felix is not amoral. Felix would be out of his depth in a puddle, so as he plunges into the worlds of nationalist politics (the action is set in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum) and artificial intelligence, the picture gets more muddled.

When Valium addict Felix McAveety's best friend Marina is found murdered in the local park, he goes looking for answers to questions that he quickly forgets.

The novel is set in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and also explores Scotland's role in colonialism. Marina Katos’s body is found in a park and the police don’t seem to know or care who committed the crime. Another plus was that chapters were often about 10 pages each so it was very easily digestible and not at all difficult to let my tea go cold as I kept telling myself “one more chapter”. Comparisons of this book to Trainspotting is lazy and disingenuous and disregard all reviews and opinions who make this lazy comparison. I fought the urge to give up several times as I became slightly bewildered by the ‘picaresque’ (more like rambling and disjointed) plot and the abundance of vaguely minor characters who flit in and out.Marina was involved in Alternative Independence, a left-wing movement for Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum. Nobody comes across terribly realistic, not in any kind of way that undercuts the pathos of the real emotional core, but it is bizarre nonetheless.

Frontline Noir, founded in 2008, is a publisher of current affairs and recent history titles covering controversial topics and events, often written by people who were participants or otherwise affected. And more drugs than the whole Trainspotting series - and that's just chapter one - no not really, but almost! It's a crime thriller but it very much reflects Boyle's previous tv and stand up work, in that it's not your conventional crime thriller. This is Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle's debut novel and being a fan of his brand of humour, I knew I just had to read this.I didn't really understand how it was solved and I'm not sure if I missed something or we're supposed to not get it. With the novel’s protagonist Felix, Frankie has definitely injected him with much of his own sense of humor as well as his often fatalistic view of society. Although the author is a famous comedian, this is their debut, and I feel it will divide the room between those who like the book and those who found it “out there.

And yet with a slight twist of perspective, Frankie boyle managed to infuse into the story moments of poignancy that was so unexpected their impact was more keenly felt and the story all the better for it. Enlisting the help of a retired Detective turned crime- novelist, Felix is determined to solve the mystery of Marina's murder, not trusting the police to get it right. Mikey – the manager of the Go-Go, who is in a relationship with the Scottish National Party (SNP) politician Gary Mount to gather intelligence for the British government.I found this an entertaining eclectic romp, although the crime story is just the a vague excuse for an outline.