Murder thriller
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Review Team
I liked this book a lot, so much that I've already downloaded Robert Leigh's latest one, Any Man Joe.
Shaun Dolan works in a call centre, and murders customers who are
unnecessarily rude to him. Yet I still
kind of liked the guy. I didn't want him
to get caught. That's a real art - making
the reader root for a brutal psychopath. Oh dear, I hope it's not just me...
The strength of this book is the sharp observation by which the characters have been
created, from Shaun's boozy mates, to the chav ex-girlfriend, to the begging
victims Barry Johnson and the revoltingly pompous Derek Page-Dove (great
name!), and, best of all, the ghastly, dreadful supervisors and management at Skymiles
and Calltex call centre. Well done, Robert
Leigh - the section in the middle about the changeover from Skymiles to
Elevation, with all its corporate BS, is a masterpiece - it's obvious the
author has worked in one of those places, and the production of this novel must
have made every soul destroying moment worth it. The dialogue is spot on, with every awful
buzzword and phrase these people use; yes, and don't they always refer to their
staff, etc, as 'you guys'??! Ugh!
This is not a novel for the squeamish; the violence is graphic, and
you'll want to weep for the victims. But
it's kind of funny. If you can believe
that. Not laugh out loud funny, but
witty and clever.
I wavered between 4 and 5 stars all the way through it, eventually
deciding on 5. I think it needs some
tidying up, I thought the Harry Collins part was too much, and I was a tiny bit
disappointed by the ending, but these are very minor complaints (in fact, not
even complaints), are only my opinion, and the good bits are so very good that
I couldn't have given it less.
Highly recommended!
From Lime Street to Yirgacheffe by Robert Leigh reviewed HERE
Love this review, readers probably need to have experienced the call centre option for a true understanding of the book - but then I expect most adults have at one time been on the end of a phone to one. Great to read it from the other side of the phone call.
ReplyDeleteRosie, I found it a brilliant insight into the call centre thing - and though I've never worked in one I have been around enough ghastly sales and office types to really get it! I thought it was very well explained, with none of the "you what?" bits that you often find when writers illustrate their own world.
DeleteThis sounds great, in fact I've just popped over to buy it! Thanks T :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, nice one - I think you'll love it!
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