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A Snowball in Hell | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Brookmyre
Publisher: Little, Brown
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy Used: £7.48
You Save: £9.51 (56%)
New (27) Used (8) from £7.48
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 811
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Large Print e.
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 5.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 0316027634
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316027632
ASIN: 0316027634
Publication Date: August 14, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 A killer with ratings! August 15, 2008
Sara Chung (SF, CA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
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!"
An Acerbic, Exhilarating Tour de Force August 24, 2008
G. J. Oxley (Tyne & Wear, England)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
One of the three main characters in this book is a sleight of hand specialist. Zal Innez previously appeared in the excellent `The Sacred Art of Stealing' alongside Angelique De Xavia, the policewoman who hunted him down, then let him escape because she loved him. His stagecraft is a metaphor for this book insofar as NOTHING is as it seems and author Christopher Brookmyre stuns us regularly throughout with a whole series of brilliant set-pieces of misdirection.
Here, Angelique relocates and recruits Zal to help her capture arch-baddie Simon Darcourt (who previously appeared in `A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away, together with Angelique). Zal and Angelique put their unresolved love affair on hold as they pursue Darcourt, who is capturing celebrity after celebrity and killing them in his own bizarre version of a reality TV show. She also has a special vested interest in apprehending him that I won't give away.
Halfway through this book I actually thought Christopher was trowelling on the satire too heavily, taking pot shots at too many easy targets: crap racist 70s comedians, gold-digging WAGS, reality TV, manufactured teen bands, splenetic right wing newspaper columnists. And some of these had already been covered by Ben Elton in `Dead Famous' and `Chart Throb'. But I have to say I was then bowled over by an excellent bit of misdirection - pure Jeffrey Deaver in execution - and was later actually punching the air and grinning from ear to ear at the audacity of later examples of his legerdemain.
It goes without saying that there are several hilarious passages, and that Christopher is 1000% more caustic than Ben Elton, or the other writer he's often compared to, Florida's own moral guardian, the great Carl Hiaasen.
`A Snowball in Hell' is a high-octane mix of thriller, satire... and love story, the latter proving that CB has a heart beneath his curmudgeonly exterior. It is also quite superb and right up there with the very best of his books. And as I mentioned earlier, the plot twists are breath-takingly good.
Recommended highly to all lovers of crime thrillers, satire, humour, and indeed anyone in general who likes a good read. However, one word of warning: you don't necessarily have to have read either of the two CB titles I mentioned above, but I recommend you do otherwise you may find the first 20-30 pages, and a few later plot references, a touch difficult to follow.
Sheer class..... August 14, 2008
NEIL MCCALLUM (Milngavie)
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
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
Alakazammy, stairheid rammy September 13, 2008
Ian Paterson (Newcastle Uk)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Alakazammy stairheid rammy ! The perfect recipe add your best hero DI de Xavia resurrect your best villian Simon Darcourt, sprinkle with the charisma of the brilliant thief/magician Zal add lashings of dark cutting satire and shape into one of the best reads of 2008 so far.
So Simon Dacourt terrorist for hire last seen in A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away is not dead after all he's targeting celebrities and playing out his sick games through the Internet and dominating the media but for what reason why after all these years has he blown his cover ?
De xavia who brought about his demise last time is tasked with capturing him and recruits Zal (The Sacred Art Of Stealing) to assist
What follows is a fantastic story with loads of laugh out funny moments and a huge amount of twists and turns that any thriller writer would be proud, there is no way is anyone is going to guess what is going to happen next
Simon Cowell , big brother, wags, x factor, and right wing columnists are just some of the targets for his dark superb satire
With some fantastic funny uniquely Scottish turn of phrases that would make a builder blush
Hands up I thought after his last two novels that Brookmyre was on the wane but that was obviously just a bit of misdirection but not only is this a resounding turn to form but I think the might well be the best of all twelve of Brookmyre's books.
Massively entertaining September 18, 2008
P. G. Harris (Dudley, W Midlands, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A hard boiled heroine, a sensitive intelligent hero, a black hearted villain with a passion for indie pop, vicious satire of contemporary media culture, exuberant wit, sufficient plot twists to turn one cross-eyed.
Nope, I can't find anything not to like. A thoroughly recommended and entertaining raead
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