If you know and enjoy Brookmyre’s work, you expect his latest novel to be sharply satirical, lightweight, funny, with plenty of farcically over-the-top gory, macabre action. In these respects Be My Enemy will not disappoint.

Still, you wonder where he will go next as a writer. There is a lot of déjà lu here; no attempt to strike out in a new creative direction. The political ambience of his writing remains unchanged. His philosophical centre of gravity is still the radical left playground of the Scottish campus. There are hints in this latest story that his characters may mature from there, but so far only as the postscript to the narrative.

Mailed to BXer fanclub 20 April 2004.

Yay! I've been looking forward to reading another by Brookmyre, and now my wish is fulfilled...thank you, thank you!!!

**June 19, 2005
Another great book from Brookmyre. Sadly, I can't get his books locally, so I have to rely on BCers or online ordering to get my hands on them. But it's worth it! A fair bit of the dialogue goes over my head, as I'm not very familiar with British politics, Scottish and British pop culture references, or, for that matter, a large part of the eighties, at least from a grown-up perspective. However, the action is fast-paced, the wittiness is high, and there is plenty of gore and ickiness to be had. Highly enjoyable!

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Lisa-B for a Brookmyre trade ... enjoy!

Received today! Thanks a lot, Fanclub, I hope we can continue our Brookmyre trade tradition :-)

"By now, readers know what to expect from the remarkable Mr Brookmyre, and Be My Enemy has all the hallmarks of his caustic wit. The protagonist of his earlier books, the wry Jack Parlabane, makes a welcome reappearance, faced with an intriguing professional problem: he is to take part in a weekend of "corporate teambuilding" in the comfortable surroundings of a secluded estate. But quite what sort of course is this? Jack's instincts as a no-holds-barred hack, skilled at uncovering unpalatable truths, warn him that something unusual is in the offing--but he's not quite prepared for the extremely dangerous sideshow that is to accompany the corporate makeovers.

This is wonderfully abrasive stuff, full of the scabrous insights that we read Brookmyre for, and it's good to see ideas shoehorned into the satirically biting prose; while never neglecting the crucial task of keeping us turning those pages, Brookmyre makes some sharp points here; one of them being that we all harbour certain fascist tendencies, stifling a desire to put paid to those who go against us. The Highland country house in Be My Enemy functions as a hot house in which certain ideas along these lines can be explored--and Brookmyre's conclusions are just as likely to upset politically correct leftwingers as they are to ruffle the feathers of staunch conservatives......" from amazon.co.uk

I think miketrollstigen is correct in his critical remarks, but Be My Enemy indeed is highly(!) enjoyable, therefore my favorable rating.

I brought this book to the Meet-Up today in Griesheim at the Linie 9 café and - after quite some encouragement from me - MrBennett took it. I really hope you'll like it.

I've never heard of this author, and Lisa-B told me he was one of her absolute favorites. So I've become curious and will try this one.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This book has been waiting to be read for years - I just never get in the mood to do so. That's why I'll take it to the Frankfurt meetup tomorrow, maybe s.o. gets more interested in it than I am.

Picked it up at the meetup on tuesday. I am not quiet sure what to expect, but it sounds interesting.

Will be released at the next meetup in Frankfurt.

Sorry, didn't finish it, just couldn't get into it.

Catched the book at the Frankfurt Meet-up 12.04.2011 Cafe Albatros. - Well, I didn't like it that much. Just not the kind of humour I like.

Released at the Frankfurt Meetup am 09.08.2011 at the restaurant Krua Thai.
Freigelassen beim Frankfurt Meetup am 09.08.2011 im Restaurant Krua Thai.

Took it with me from the meetup at Krua Thai.

found the book at the meetup in Frankfurt last tuesday...interesting cover and title is...
I don´t know the author but the text on the cover tells its similiar to Hiaasen and this is a good advice

I´ve done my best but reached my limit of understanding an English book, I´ll try it again later and hope there will be another reader for this book at the meetup in Mainz

I liked the novel with the school-reunion on the oil-platform (-rig??), but couldn't get far with the one with the guy who is threatend by someone (clear description, eh?). So I am looking forward to this one.
In June 2012: I liked this one: Uncommon usage of household (and other (uggggh, does anybody think this really works??)) items and "heads will roll" (this WAS an 80s song as well, wasn't it??). If they make this into a movie, I won't watch it: splatter .....

Reist in der GEFÄHRLICHEN BÜCHERBOX: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/11179990

Travels on the DANGEROUS BOOKBOX

took this from the book box

Brookmyre's books according to wikipedia:

Quite Ugly One Morning
Country of the Blind
Not the End of the World
One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night
Boiling a Frog
A Big Boy did it and Ran Away
The Sacred Art of Stealing
Be My Enemy (Or, Fuck This For a Game of Soldiers)
All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye
A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil
The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks
A Snowball In Hell
Pandaemonium
Where the Bodies Are Buried
When the Devil Drives

Enjoyed this one in spite of there being very much of politics discussed. Other than that a very entertaining read!

public bookshelf