Good News Bad News (Hardcover)

Customers buy this book with Contact Zero by David Wolstencroft

+

Price For Both: £15.49

One of these items ships sooner than the other. Show details

• This item: Good News Bad News by David Wolstencroft

  Usually dispatched within 6 to 9 days.
  Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
  This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
  

• Contact Zero by David Wolstencroft

  In stock.
  Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
  This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
  

Contact Zero by David Wolstencroft 3.5 out of 5 stars (10)  £5.49

The Ivy Chronicles by Karen Quinn 3.4 out of 5 stars (23)  £5.49

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood 4.2 out of 5 stars (31)  £5.49

The Laments by George Hagen 3.9 out of 5 stars (8)  £6.39

Relentless by Simon Kernick 3.5 out of 5 stars (147)  £4.89

› Explore similar items

Review
'Fast-paced, hard-edged and ultra-slick' -- Daily Mirror 20050524 'The most refreshing take on the genre for some time ... a very exciting novel full of plot twists, and funny too ... a very promising debut.' -- Portsmouth News 20050615 'Very funny and gripping' -- Sheila Hancock, Daily Mirror 20050615 'A rollercoaster ride of a book which manages to be both a traditional spy story and a hip tale of friendship and trust... flair and originality. I loved it.' -- Peter Guttridge, Observer 'GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS revitalizes the espionage novel and dishes up a breakneck plot, dizzying twists and two of the most memorable characters in recent suspense fiction. This book is a pure delight!' -- Jeffery Deaver, author of Garden of Beasts 'Sharp and funny... brilliant... exciting... A dazzling performance, full of surprises, and the only doubt it leaves is what will this most promising author ever do for an encore.' -- Chicago Tribune 'This exhilarating spy-vs-spy thriller begins with a bang... with its excruciating tension and cynical humor GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS pays a fitting postmodern tribute to le Carre.' -- Entertainment Weekly With echoes of Le Carre and Graham Greene - and a hipness all of its own - Good News, Bad News revitalizes the espionage novel and dishes up a breakneck plot, dizzying twists and two of the most memorable characters in recent suspense fiction. This book is a pure delight! -- Jeffery Deaver, author of Garden of Beasts Wolstencroft is a nimble entertainer who knows his spycraft and deftly puts it to use in his diverting debut thriller. -- New York Daily News Wolstencroft takes a spy novel convention - the wrongly accused agent on the run from his own agency - and gives it a clever twist in this quirky, literate book. -- Publishers Weekly 'You get the feeling, almost from the first page of GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, that you are reading something special. There are all sorts of influences here, from John le Carre to Monty Python to even John Woo... even if you hate espionage novels, Wolstencroft's style and wit will keep you interested and aboard this wild ride, and scanning the television listings for those episodes of "MI-5" that you missed.' -- Book Reporter 'A spellbinding read' -- Good Housekeeping 'A superb first novel that will keep you turning the pages' -- Herald Sun, Australia 'An exhuberant and satisfying debut' -- Guardian 'This debut novel is smart and inventive' -- Booklist

Product Description
Meet Charlie. An everyday bloke. Good news is, he has a job. Bad news is, it's in a photo kiosk. He whiles away the hours with his rather eccentric colleague George. But appearances can be deceptive. You see, there is one line of work where taking the world at face value can be very foolish indeed. Where trusting someone - anyone - is the most dangerous thing you can ever do. The truth is, Charlie and George have not been very honest with each other. The truth is, this isn't their number one career choice. Their real jobs are a hell of a lot more dangerous. It's time to come clean. But the truth could very well kill them!

See all Product Description

15 Reviews 5 star:  (5) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (4) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (3)           Average Customer Review 3.3 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   12 of 12 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars A Rollercoaster Ride That Falls of the Track, 2 Feb 2006 By  Sam "samueltyler" (Reading, Berkshire) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    This review is from: Good News Bad News: Home (Paperback) Good news - this book is fast paced, exciting and gripping from the start. Bad news - it’s too fast and becomes confused by its own twists and turns. Two spies are pitted against one another only to realize they are not the enemies they think they are. Instead they must uncover the truth before it kills them David Wolstencroft has the pedigree to write a good spy novel, he created the hit BBC drama Spooks. He takes this glossy look at the spy world and adapts it to what can only be described as airport fiction. Each chapter is around 5 pages long so the story moves at a vigorous pace. This in one way is a positive as you do not have the time to reflect on any inconsistencies. However, this over fast nature is also its downfall. In particular the last part of the book hurtles along at much too fast a pace, twisting and turning like an Austrian Bobsleighed. With a tighter reign on his imagination and more relaxed approach to storytelling this could have been excellent - instead it is just average. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   14 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Good twists...bad twists, 5 Oct 2004 By  Jim (the Philippines) - See all my reviews This review is from: Good News, Bad News (Hardcover) This book was penned by the writer of the BBC spy drama "Spooks" and sometimes it feels a little too much like a script. What redeems it is the cracking pace and the writer's wonderful sense of the absurd. This is a great positive when dealing with the plotline of human error and escalating consequences. Additionally the author answers the espionage question, Who are the new enemies in the post cold war period?, without resorting to the terrorist or tired nuclear arsenal plotline. There is also not a mention of a code anywhere, something I find very gratifying in the current literary environment. There is instead, some very nice explanations of new and old tradecraft; interesting and entertaining. A couple of small quibbles. I felt that the two central characters could have been fleshed out a little better. One of them felt like a caricature of Le Carre's Smiley. Additionally the final denouement felt a little too forced and revolved around a twist too far. At least for my liking. The author's originality makes him a welcome addition to this genre. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   12 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, tense, exciting, surprising . . ., 4 May 2005 By  "dentonanne" - See all my reviews 'Good News, Bad News' by first-time novelist David Wolstencroft has been a revelation to me. I am not a regular 'spy' fiction reader, but this book has kept me spellbound throughout. Intelligently written, yet entirely accessible, this novel examines the relationship between two men who are thrown together by circumstances, and follows their thrilling defiance of the establishment. At turns comical, surprising, touching and exciting, the novel kept me totally gripped. I thoroughly recommend it to both regular 'spy' readers, as well as any other fans of great fiction. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 15 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews 3.0 out of 5 stars Good and mixed... There's good news and, well, mixed news. The good news; two guys working in a photolab in the underground. Read more Published 6 days ago by freedomrulesok 5.0 out of 5 stars Good news...it's an excellent book. 'Good news, bad news' is a fantastic novel which has you utterly hooked from the word go. The first few chapters have several twists which are totally unexpected and this only... Read more Published 5 months ago by Lesley-anne Murray 2.0 out of 5 stars Don't expect the quality or the plotting of 'Spooks' When I started `Good News, Bad News,' I really couldn't understand why the other reviewers had disliked it so much. Read more Published 9 months ago by Snapdragon 4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent I've never seen the TV programme that the author had written, so I was not entirely sure what sort of style or genre I was letting myself in for. Read more Published on 31 Jan 2007 by BC 1.0 out of 5 stars Another desperate attempt at writing a best seller! This book at first seems to be one that wiil be an all nighter! Think again. I certainly feel cheated at reading it all hopeing that something interesting was going to happen... Read more Published on 8 May 2006 by Khalil Akbar 3.0 out of 5 stars Good News Bad News This is a well written and engaging book, but perhaps only initially engaging. There is a tendency these days for crime/spy fiction to be stretched beyond its natural limit and I... Read more Published on 7 Sep 2005 by towser15 3.0 out of 5 stars Strange This is a strange book, featuring strange people doing strange things for strange reasons. It starts well, with the two reluctant spies (or whatever you want to call them)... Read more Published on 11 Aug 2005 by Peter Smith 1.0 out of 5 stars Should have been shorter I have just finished reading this and would probably describe myself as feeling a little 'cheated'. I felt the book was too long and too many of the twists unbelievable. Published on 16 Jun 2005 by Doc Martin 5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC FUN AND THRILLING TOO WONDERFULLY ENJOYABLE READ, BOTH A THRILLER AND VERY VERY FUNNY. I STARTED THE BOOK TO READ AT NIGHT BUT ENDED UP FINISHING IT STRAIGHT AWAY, I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. FIVE STARS. Published on 12 Jun 2005 by roe97 1.0 out of 5 stars Not very exciting It was not the worst book I have ever read and it wasn't the best book I have ever read, and I read it in two days. But would I tell my friends to read it - certainly not! Read more Published on 6 Jun 2005 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 15 customer reviews...

Curious books set in the UK: A list by L. Clark "opheliaphillips"   On the "fiction: to be read" shelf: A list by Ammonite132   Top new fiction for a hot summer (2009): A list by EW Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

• Books > Fiction > Genre > Adventure Stories

• 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.