Absolute Zero Cool [Paperback]

'A genuinely original take on noir, inventive and funny...a cross between Flann O'Brien and Raymond Chandler.' --John Banville, author of The Sea

'Absolute Zero Cool is unlike anything else you'll read this year...laugh-out-loud funny...this is writing at its dazzling, cleverest zenith. Think John Fowles, via Paul Auster and Rolling Stone...A feat of extraordinary alchemy.' --Ken Bruen, Author of American Skin

'Among all the recent crop of Irish crime novelists, it seems to me that Declan Burke is ideally poised to make the transition to a larger international stage.' --John Connolly

'If you want to find something new and challenging, comic crime fiction is now the place to go; Declan Burke [is] at the vanguard of a new wave of young writers kicking against the clichés and producing ambitious, challenging, genre-bending works...' --Colin Bateman, Author 'The Day of the Jack Russell'

Stop waiting for Godot he s here. -Declan Burke takes the existential dilemma of characters writing themselves and turns it on its ear, and then some. He gives it body and soul; an Irish soul. --Reed Farrel Coleman, Author 'Empty Ever After'

Burke has written a deep, lyrical and moving crime novel; an intoxicating and exciting novel of which the master himself, Flann O Brien, would be proud... --Adrian McKinty, Author 'Fifty Grand'

'Among all the recent crop of Irish crime novelists, it seems to me that Declan Burke is ideally poised to make the transition to a larger international stage.' ---John Connolly

'There s a thematic richness, and a level of stylistic control, to Absolute Zero Cool that makes it soar. Far from being just a cleverly postmodern crime novel, this book is, among other things, a meditation on the writing life; a parable about terrorism; a bleak satire of the Irish healthcare system; and a fable about life, death and family responsibility. Absolute Zero Cool isn t quite like anything else you ve read, in any genre. It s clever, intimate, passionate, and funny: altogether a wonderful achievement.' -Kevin Power, The Irish Times

'What is most refreshing about Burke's book is its ambition. It is rare that a so-called genre book attempts to wrest free of its constraints and do something entirely different. Absolute Zero Cool is a genre-buster. Clever, funny, challenging, surreal, unexpected and entirely original.' -Independent

'An ambitious, satisfying black comedy, Absolute Zero Cool sees Burke taking great delight in subverting genres within the very loose framework of a crime thriller. So dark is the novel-within-a-novel premise that it makes Fight Club look like a Marx Brothers knockabout comedy.' -The Evening Herald

'Satire and high art meets screwball noir ... The result is a very clever book, that s at once fun and challenging. The prose and plot has been honed within an inch of its life, full of lovely turns of phrases, philosophical depth and keen observational insight ... ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL takes the crime genre and its many tropes and stereotypes and throws them out the window. It s a genuinely unique tale ... Five stars all the way for me.' - Rob Kitchin, theviewfromthebluehouse.blogspot.com

'My point is, there is room for that, and there is increasing room for super-consciousness, post-rational literature -- particularly in our post-rational world -- along the lines of Woyzeck, Bertold Brecht, Robbe-Grillet, Samuel Beckett, and others. Most recently, Declan Burke s ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. My kind of book. Maybe it could be called Gonzolit. Serious as the World Series, clean as Van Gogh s ear surgery, worthy of our times.' - Malcolm Berry, thefoulksrebellion.com

'This is not a crime book in the normal sense of having a detective, a killer and an easy to follow plot. It is a stunningly beautiful --Publishers Weekly

'Metafiction? Postmodern noir? These and other labels will be applied to Burke's newest novel; any might be apt, but none is sufficient. ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL is largely a literary novel that draws on history, mythology, and literature … Noir fans may not care for this one, but lovers of literary fiction will find much to savour.' --Booklist

'ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL starts a slow burn that ultimately builds to a literally explosive conclusion … Wickedly sharp, darkly humorous, uncommonly creative and brilliantly executed.' --Elizabeth A. White

Declan Burke is one of Ireland's leading crime fiction authors. He reviews regularly for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, and hosts the website Crime Always Pays. His previous books include Eightball Boogie, The Big O and Crime Always Pays.