A Snowball in Hell
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in A Snowball in Hell for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Dazzling comic skills' The Times 'Sharply satirical and poignantly funny, this is a gripping and highly entertaining read.' Time Out 'Chris Brookmyre is a genius.' Mirror 'Brookmyre has no equal.' Maxim 'Achingly funny' Sunday Times 'Exhilarating linguistic fluency and keenly subversive intelligence' Scotland on Sunday
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
He's alive. Simon Darcourt, professional assassin par excellence, only now behaving more like an amateur serial killer with attitude. And it's up to Angelique De Xavier to bring his particular brand of mayhem to a halt.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the three main characters in this book is the sleight of hand specialist, Zal Innez who previously appeared in the excellent `The Sacred Art of Stealing' alongside policewoman Angelique De Xavia. 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.
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.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
So let's consider the facts, familiar characters (from at least 3 different previous books), familiar unapologetic in-your-face style, typical west of Scotland sense of humour...so, you have to ask, is it all going to start getting a bit boring?...answer, not a snowball's chance in hell (sorry about that!).
After waiting patiently over the last few months for my next Brookmyre fix, I polished off 'Snowball in Hell' in two mesmeric sittings. As always, I found myself laughing out loud throughout the novel at Brookmyre's depiction of Scottish humour and attitudes. If there is another writer out there doing what he does better, I have yet to come across him/her. While this ability to make people laugh is undoubtedly a key to Brookmyre's success, his ability to tell a story and seduce the reader into suspending their disbelief and losing themselve in the plot is what keeps me and i'm sure many others coming back for more.
Snowball sees the return of Simon Dacourt, Brookmyre's resident ego-maniacal mercenary terrorist. Again, the fate of Dacourt is tied to the success of the book's heroine, Angelique de Xavier, Glesga Polis' posterchild for equal opportunities given her ugandan/glasweigan heritage. Xavier has aged both physically and emotionally since thwarting Dacourt's last terrorist outing, years which have added even more venom and cynicism to her professional posterier. Brookmyre does a much better job though of revealing a softer side to the character, making her a much more multi-dimensional and, for it, likeable heroine. Her relationship with Zal, he of The Sacred Art of Stealing fame, flits seasmlessy from centre stage to background issue as Dacourt's latest venture, turning the world of celebrity on its head by executing z-list celebs on tv, leaves her with excruciating life or death decisions and contemplating the road her life has taken.
The story pops and fizzes as usual with the now trademark twists and turns that keep the reader guessing, although never to the point where it becomes anything less than engrossing.
After two sittings, I once again find myself despondent that I am going to have to wait so long for my next Brookmyre fix. I urge you, if you have never had the pleasure of losing yourself in one of his novels, to take the plunge! I can almost guarantee you won't regret it.
After waiting patiently over the last few months for my next Brookmyre fix, I polished off 'Snowball in Hell' in two mesmeric sittings. As always, I found myself laughing out loud throughout the novel at Brookmyre's depiction of Scottish humour and attitudes. If there is another writer out there doing what he does better, I have yet to come across him/her. While this ability to make people laugh is undoubtedly a key to Brookmyre's success, his ability to tell a story and seduce the reader into suspending their disbelief and losing themselve in the plot is what keeps me and i'm sure many others coming back for more.
Snowball sees the return of Simon Dacourt, Brookmyre's resident ego-maniacal mercenary terrorist. Again, the fate of Dacourt is tied to the success of the book's heroine, Angelique de Xavier, Glesga Polis' posterchild for equal opportunities given her ugandan/glasweigan heritage. Xavier has aged both physically and emotionally since thwarting Dacourt's last terrorist outing, years which have added even more venom and cynicism to her professional posterier. Brookmyre does a much better job though of revealing a softer side to the character, making her a much more multi-dimensional and, for it, likeable heroine. Her relationship with Zal, he of The Sacred Art of Stealing fame, flits seasmlessy from centre stage to background issue as Dacourt's latest venture, turning the world of celebrity on its head by executing z-list celebs on tv, leaves her with excruciating life or death decisions and contemplating the road her life has taken.
The story pops and fizzes as usual with the now trademark twists and turns that keep the reader guessing, although never to the point where it becomes anything less than engrossing.
After two sittings, I once again find myself despondent that I am going to have to wait so long for my next Brookmyre fix. I urge you, if you have never had the pleasure of losing yourself in one of his novels, to take the plunge! I can almost guarantee you won't regret it.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Completely Awesome
Absolutely fantastic. Up till now my favourite book by Brookmyre has been "The Sacred Art of Stealing" however I think this just topped it. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jayrenegade
Addictive reading
A Snow Ball in Hell features the return of petite Scots police officer Angelique de Xavia and her previous nemeses Simon Darcourt and Zal Innez. Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. R. Johnson-Rollings
Read this book!
This is a fabulous book, by a great Scottish author. Have read all of Christopher Brookmyre's books, and characters in this one have appeared in several previous books - 'One fine... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jane Fullerton
Just Nasty
To say this was a disappointment would be an understatement. I loved all his previous books (apart from the rubber ducks one which seemed boring) and was really looking forward to... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jol
Sick, Twisted and sooo sooo funny
Brookmyre once again outdoes himself. He gets better with every book and never ceases to amaze. A Snowball In Hell sees Brookmyre take a couple of characters that regular readers... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Dareos
What A Pile Of
rubbish. 'See me? I'm hard, coz I'm fra Glasca and I write in the present tense. I've got a passle of numties who buy anything I spew out coz they think I'm Yoda and I know... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Eggball
Hiaasen who?
Another great story, with great characters we know and love. A riot of fun and violence from start to finish, loved it. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Paul Kilmurray
A little disappointing
This is only my second Brookmyre read - I was so impressed by 'A Tale Etched in Blood', I would have bought a box set of his works had one been available. Read more
Published on 1 May 2010 by pigsmayfly
Great - In Context
To really make sense of this book and the back story, you need to have read 'A Big Boy Done It and Ran Away' and 'The Sacred Art of Stealing' in that order. Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by Mr. Moker
Vicious, evil, and very, very rewarding!
I think I'm a bit of a latecomer to some of Brookmyre's books, and I've definitely read them in the wrong order, but never mind. Read more
Published on 4 April 2010 by Trelloskilos
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
