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Good News Bad News
 
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Good News Bad News (Paperback)

by David Wolstencroft (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (17 Jan 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340831626
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340831625
  • Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.1 x 2.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,691,054 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Review

'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!

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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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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)   
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.

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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.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, tense, exciting, surprising . . ., 4 May 2005
This review is from: Good News Bad News (Hardcover)
'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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars good news more BAD NEWS
GOOD NEWS the begining of this book is fast paced really gets you gagging for more !

BAD NEWS dull boring characters who i did not care for and by the end of the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr C I Kingston

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 4 months 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 9 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 13 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 10 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

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