Blue Collar [Kindle Edition]

This is another quality read from Danny King. Well known for his 'lovable rogues' he has this time produced a whole cast of characters that will make you laugh out loud. The trick he has pulled off here though is to satisfy his usual fans whilst also appealing to a much wider audience. The subject is traditional enough in mainstream fiction in that it's a boy meets girl and how love blossom across the class divide type of story. However, he has approached this through the eyes of the man, a humble construction worker with very working class opinions and what results isn't so much chick lit as brick lit! Buy it - you'll like it.

With Blue Collar Danny King takes a bold step into the murky world of the relationship comedy-with-a-twist, the twist here being that the blossoming romance is between that of a somewhat neurotic Brickie, Terry and high flying City girl Charley.

So, essentially, it's a class divide comedy and it's this clash of cultures which provides most of the novel's funniest scenes, including Terry's induction into the world of Eggs Benedict ("Wasn't he in the A-Team?") during a particularly painful breakfast at a favourite Café of Charley's and a posh dinner party which had me laughing out loud more than once.

Some have said that this is a bit of a departure for King, whose literary world is usually populated with decidedly less savoury characters including hitmen, burglars and bank robbers. This isn't entirely true though. It wouldn't be the first time that King has adroitly analysed lonely male angst in his own unique, but laser accurate, style. The Hitman Diaries dealt superbly with a main character with a desperate, psychotic desire to be in love and be loved in return and, for a writer who is often, and probably fairly in most cases, daubed with the "lad" tag, he knows how to cut right to the heart of male neurosis and, more importantly, how to make it very funny!

Blue Collar is, in a way, an extension of this theme, as it examines the effects of what happens after you've actually found that special person and all the happiness and hell that go with that in the modern world. Poor old Terry soon finds his world falling apart, mainly due to crushing low self-esteem and some nagging doubts that he's not good enough for one such as Charley.

All his angst is closely monitored by a reality tv crew, directed by a close friend of Charley's, just to make matters more complicated, who are filming a new fly-on-the-wall show on his building site, a plot device brought in to ultimately make or break Terry by the book's finale. Will he end up with the woman of his dreams? Or will he bottle it and return to his miserable, but easy, single life?
Well, you'll just have to read it to find out and I'd recommend that you do so. Like all of King's other books, this one is a hoot, especially in the earlier stages where Terry is trying to hold his own in this brave new world of designer bars and baffling text talk. I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions, which is the acid test for this sort of book for me.

It's a book that will entertain and even maybe educate; men will empathise with Terry and women will see that being a man in the modern world is not quite as simple as they might think!
Perfect for taking on holiday with you this summer or if you just want something that'll engage you and keep you amused throughout!

And, if you enjoy this one, then go back and check out The Hitman Diaries and the Milo books, you won't be sorry!

The Hitman Diaries
Milo's Marauders
Milo's Run

Another brilliant piece of writing from Danny King. I laughed so much I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed the viewpoint - a clever take on a well worn and popular literary set up. He writes what he thinks and he thinks what many dare not - original, insightful and very very funny.