- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Hutchinson (5 Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0091794447
- ISBN-13: 978-0091794446
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,160,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Deadly Pleasures Magazine
‘A very fast and brutal read... Chris Simms is a rapidly developing talent in the world of crime-fiction.’
The Book Seller
‘...builds unrelentingly towards an edge-of-the-seat finale...’
The Book Seller
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read and enjoyed Simms' first book, 'Outside the White Lines', I was really looking forward to 'Pecking Order' and it didn't disappoint. Simms' greatest strength lies in the originality of the stories, settings and characters, and the skillfull weaving together of the disparate elements to make a cracking story that twists and turns and builds up to a dramatic climax. 'Pecking Order' is the first novel I've ever read set around a battery farm, and this original and fascinating setting is complemented by the characterisation of Rubble. As with 'The Searcher' character in 'Outside the White Lines', Simms has created a memorable character whose whole nature lies at the heart of the unfolding story. It's dramatic, exciting and well-handled. Well worth a read - and I'm already looking forward to whatever Simms comes up with next.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Again (after reading 'Outside The White Lines') excellent characterisation from Simms. Especially Rubble, the chap who lives in a caravan on the battery farm where he works.
He's approached and 'hired' to do some undercover work and having always longed to be in the army, yet never been successful, he finds his new job thrilling and much more satisfying than wringing the necks of diseased or injured birds on the farm. His only worry is how long his new job will last!
It was a fascinating, if disturbing, insight into battery farming and threw up some interesting parallels between the lives of the chickens and those elderly and infirm in society. All too often we close our eyes to the plight of others, knowing that they are unhappy or lonely. Just as many of us never consider the conditions egg laying hens have to endure on battery farms. We know it goes on of course, and if pushed we think it's unacceptable, but five minutes later have moved on to thinking about something more pleasant.
Rubble is a character who could be described as sick, strange, sad, gullible and mercenary but I'm pretty sure you'll be unable to dislike him.
He's approached and 'hired' to do some undercover work and having always longed to be in the army, yet never been successful, he finds his new job thrilling and much more satisfying than wringing the necks of diseased or injured birds on the farm. His only worry is how long his new job will last!
It was a fascinating, if disturbing, insight into battery farming and threw up some interesting parallels between the lives of the chickens and those elderly and infirm in society. All too often we close our eyes to the plight of others, knowing that they are unhappy or lonely. Just as many of us never consider the conditions egg laying hens have to endure on battery farms. We know it goes on of course, and if pushed we think it's unacceptable, but five minutes later have moved on to thinking about something more pleasant.
Rubble is a character who could be described as sick, strange, sad, gullible and mercenary but I'm pretty sure you'll be unable to dislike him.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The heart of this unsettling and disturbing crime thriller is the wonderful Rubble, a character of child-like cruelty and cunning. Chris Simm's triumph is to write a novel which dramatises a central problem in modern society, especially now in times of a war without boundaries, which is: to what extent do we obey orders ? We've all witnessed the experiments in which ordinary people, chosen from the street, are asked to take part in official experiments in which they administer electric shocks to volunteers. Progressively the shocks are increased until they clearly become painful. Time and again ordinary people, under the impression they are being directed by figures in authority, will give apparently lethal doses to innocent victims. In Pecking Order Rubble delivers the shocks - but they are a lot nastier than mere fake electric impulses. In many ways this primeval character represents us all - carrying out "orders" from above which appear to sanction murder and worse. The scenario for this dramatic experiment is the modern battery farm - brilliantly re-created here in the stunning first chapter. Against this backdrop of casual cruelty Rubble can blossom into the perfect killer. As a book it reminded me most of The Wasp Factory and it will be a total treat for anyone who likes to read dangerously. Highly recommended.
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