Quite Ugly One Morning is Christopher Brookmyre‘s debut novel and also the first one to feature Jack Parlabane.

Plot:

Jack Parlabane, investigative journalist, returns from LA to Edinburgh. Actually, it’s more of a flight than a return, since somebody just tried to kill him. Now, he should be lying low but when his downstairs neighbour is murdered in a pretty gruesome and extremely weird fashion, Jack’s investigative instincts get the better of him. Unfortunately, the police is not too overjoyed to find him at the crime scene in his underwear…

I very much liked Quite Ugly One Morning. Brookmyre has a fine sense of humour and an uncanny ability to capture the Scottish accent in the written form (though I have to admit that gets more pronounced later in his career. Jack Parlabane is a great character and the plot is intelligent, politically interesting and very engaging.

This is actually a re-read for me but since I remembered exactly nothing about the book (except the fact that I really liked it) I didn’t think it was fair to treat it as such. [This happens a lot to me, the forgetting books part, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of those books. It’s just that my brain is a sieve. Also, I read a lot.]

What I especially noticed this time round (which I think I didn’t notice before, to my infinite shame) is how damn political this book is [and I mean that in a good way]. It’s not only that the plot revolves around a very political issue – health care – but Jack Parlabane is a very political person. Interestingly enough, he’s probably one of the few positive portrayals of an anarchist I’ve ever read/seen/heard of. Usually if you mention anarchism, people either jump to terrorism or to nihilism à la Fight Club (which was cool and all, but positive? No, sir).

Anyway, Parlabane is an anarchist which is his motivation to fight for justice where he doesn’t see it served, even if sometimes through slightly illegal means. Generally speaking, he is a fascinating character and one who is well worth his own series.

The plot is great, too. You know pretty early on who’s responsible for the murder. The joy lies in seeing it all unfold. And Brookmyre never loses his reader – even though you know who’s responsible, the puzzle pieces click in place only slowly and that pacing keeps you thoroughly engaged.

The only caveata I’ve got: First, like most Brits, Brookmyre sometimes gets a little fecal in his humour. This doesn’t last long, but you gotta be able to at least stomach (if not appreciate) mention of shit, piss and puke. Secondly, he’s pretty graphic in his descriptions of violence. And those are threaded throughout the story and pretty hard to avoid. So, you gotta like that.

Summarising: If you like intelligent, funny crime novels and don’t mind a little gore, you’re going to love Brookmyre.

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Service Announcement: Since I love Brookmyre so much, it was to my utter astonishment that I noticed that I’d only read like five of his books (even though I own them all). So, in the future, expect quite a lot of reviews of his books since I decided to read them all (again).