Review - Quite Ugly One Evening

Quite Ugly one Evening

Chris Brookmyre
Abacus, 7 May 2026
Available as: HB, 400pp, audio, e   
Source: Advance e-copy
ISBN(HB): 9780349145822

I'm grateful to the publisher for giving me access to an advance e-copy of Quite Ugly one Evening to consider for review.

In a sense I feel that reviewing Quite Ugly One Evening, Chris Brookmyre's new Jack Parlabane novel, is rather superfluous, on at least two levels. First, Brookmyre is already a phenomenon, an industry to himself almost and trying to comment on it feels as though I am the ant sitting on the axletree of the wagon and shouting "see how much dust I raise!"

Then there's the point that this is not just a Brookmyre book, but a Brookmyre Parlabane book, and that is something his fans always want to see more of. What can I say that could change this (in either direction)? Perhaps this level of fannish investment is a bit of a double edged sword for an author (see Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes) but we are where we are. For many readers the reappearance of Mr Parlabane alone will make this a must-read.

All that said - I think there is more to QUOE (can I coin that?) than fan-pleasing. A lot more

For a start, as we know well, Parlabane isn't a cardboard cutout character. That is the point of him, of course, he matures, he learns (or not) from his mistakes. But still I feel that the man we see here is, while recognisable and clearly the Parlabane of old, also a beautiful study in (middle) aging, regret, and loneliness.

In QUOE, Parlabane is approaching 60 and is suddenly orphaned after his mum dies (something that happened to me a couple of years back, so I can confirm Brookmyre's handling of this sensitive subject and Parlabane's stunned, regretful and confused response). The mystery of the father who abandoned mother and son years before remains. At a loose end after a(another) story goes wrong and with his job on the line (again), Parlabane goes rogue and - perhaps - repeats an earlier mistake, accepting work from MI5.

(Will he never learn...?)

For reasons that don't make a lot of sense to begin with (they will make more by the end of the story) Five send Parlabane off on a luxury transatlantic cruise, tasking him to get close to an eccentric British family, the Maskyns. The Maskyns own a beloved 1960s puppet series that is NOT, I repeat NOT, Thunderbirds. (But clearly it also is).

The Imaginators is, unlike its real-life model, embroiled in culture-war shenanigans. Vastly popular through a spin-off role-playing game, it has become beloved of keyboard warriors who resent the idea of an updating, let along one that might pay deference to modern sensitivities regarding race, gender, colonialism and so on. At the same time, the IP is drowning in debt and a hostile takeover bid looms. All of which comes to a head on that luxury liner, currently hosting a themed cruise with most of the Maskyn family aboard. Business feuds, personal disputes, family politics and general skullduggery will all come to a head - with Parlabane the potential and handy fall guy.

But why, exactly, are the spooks interested...?

I was impressed by the sheer verve of this book. That's quite a feat for Brookmyre to pull off, when his lead character is already jaded and disenchanted and has just suffered a bereavement. Yet there's something about the combination of the writing, the very real peril, and the acerbic commentary on the modern cultural landscape, that makes QUOE a gripping page-turner. 

Almost incidentally it's also a brilliant example of the locked-room mystery - indeed a double locked-room mystery as we have a locked room on a mid-Atlantic liner. Parlabane (whose fear of being isolated on the ship adds a sense of peril) has to deploy all his skills and keep his wits about him to reach the finishing line here. And he may not like everything he discovers.

Something of an old-fashioned mystery (but aren't hose the best?) but imbued with very modern dilemmas, Quite Ugly One Evening really invigorates this series. This book isn't just one more in its franchise, it shows that Parlabane's countercultural instincts and bloody-mindedness remain vital and relevant. I would strongly recommend. 

For more information about Quite Ugly one Evening, see the publisher's website here.

Blogtour review - Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre

Want You Gone 
Chris Brookmyre
Little, Brown 20 April 2017
HB, 432pp

I'm grateful to the publisher for an advance e-copy copy of this book via NetGalley, and honoured to be joining the blogtour. (This was one book though I couldn't miss out on the hardback of and I've bought one to go with the other Brookmyres on my shelves).

Sam Morpeth doesn't have it easy. Sam's mother is in prison, she's bullied by the popular girls in her class and she's the only carer for a sister, Lilly, who has learning disabilities.

And it all seems to be getting worse as Sam's benefits are cut and the lowlife move in to take what they claim Sam's mum owes them for drugs...

Jack Parlabane, in contrast, is on the up at last. Still glowing - a little - from his reporting of the Black Widow case, he's now been able to use his contact, "Buzzkill" to get the inside story on a major bank hack. Buzzkill has featured several times in recent books, but now we're going to learn a great deal more about him ("there are no women on the Internet") as he and Jack circle and double cross each other, looking for a way out of a pretty extreme situation.

It's a situation that also draws Sam in, and one where she'll have to dig deep into her history to discover what's really going on.

And to survive.

All while juggling schoolwork, Lilly-care and the labyrinthine benefits system.

Brookmyre gives an achingly real portrayal of real people in real dilemmas: what do you do when your flat is burgled, the TV stolen, and your little sister will just melt down if she can't watch her favourite DVDs at the regular time? As a parent of a LD child I can assure you this isn't a trivial issue but Brookmyre clearly gets it. The need to provide care throws many spanners in the works here, heightening the tension as the story winds to a gripping climax.

What happens to the hacker when they're hacked? (Scary TV of armoured - and armed - cops busting open flats, that's what).

How does an ageing hack in a transforming industry stay at the cutting edge when he's beginning to feel too old even for the partying and definitely for climbing up to 3rd floor windows?

This is a book that ranges widely in its themes - from the camaraderie of hacker gangs to financial fraud (that bank deserved what happened to it), the changing face of journalism: Jack's got himself hooked up with a Buzzfeed style outfit, all beanbags and pool tables and based at an achingly trendy North London address (Hmmm, let's see how long that lasts). We also see the grim reality of the benefits system, for those caught up in its workings. All in support of a thrilling plot with the usual Parlabane shenanigans - whatever he tells himself, when he breaks into an office it's not only in search of the story, it's just as much because he can.

But there's a serious edge. Buzzkill nearly ruined Jack once before (by accident? on purpose?) and has been an ambiguous figure throughout. All the same, he's done Jack some favours. Now, Buzzkill is calling in the debts, faced with an enemy the hacker can't hack. But this could bring all Jack's new-found credibility crashing round his ears.

Will he repay his debt?

Will it be the end of him if he does?

From the ominous preface to the final, suspense-filled pages of the story, this is a book that'll keep you gripped and reading - whether you're a longtime fan of Brookmure or a newcomer.

Review: Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre

Black Widow
Chris Broomyre
Little, Brown Jan 2016
HB, 422pp

I'm grateful to the publisher for an advance e-copy of this book via NetGalley.

This is a gripping, twisty crime novel featuring Brookmyre's journalist hero, Jack Parlabane.

Parlabane has fallen a long way since his glory days. The victim of a shady sting a couple of stories ago, he's not scratching a living in a borrowed flat, scraping together "content" for websites.

And his wife Sarah is now hie ex-wife.

So he jumps at the chance to "get back in the game" when a young woman, Lucy, knocks on his door one morning. Lucy is worried about her brother Peter who "seems" to have died in a car "accident" outside Inverness. "Seems", because no body was ever found: "accident" because Lucy clearly has suspicions about Peter's new wife, Diana.

The story, framed around the proceedings of a trial, is told largely through the voice of Diana and third person narratives following Parlabane and Ali, an Inverness police officer. Diana is a doctor, a surgeon, who's run into trouble before (she wrote an anonymous blog about work-life balance and sexism in the hospital but it was hacked an her identity exposed) but then found happiness in a whirlwind romance with Peter. She doesn't, though, suffer fools - or those who cross her - gladly. And as becomes clear, her life with Peter crumbled very quickly.

Brookmyre has a good line in observation as, especially, he describes Diana's earlier troubles, whether the specific instances of outrageous behaviour highlighted in her blog or the awful harassment she suffered after her identity was exposed. (He even works in Lewis's Law - the observation that the comments on any article about feminism justify feminism).

He can also string together a plot well, producing a near perfect blend of suspense, surprise and tension. This is where reviewing Black Widow becomes frustrating. I'm normally a bit hard-hearted about spoilers, but this really is one book whose secrets you need NOT to know before you read it. As I turned the pages I felt a real sense of dread at what might be going to happen, and was sorely tempted to check the end just to see how things turned out: don't do that. Just don't.

That sense of dread was all bound up with what might happen to Diana. She's not a conventionally sympathetic character, and even as you learn more about her from her own narrative you may not warm to her, but I think you will care about her, given what she's already been through and how the first chapter opens, narrated from the dock as the trial opens.

When you finish the book I guarantee you'll revisit that first chapter, to see how it lines up with how things turned out. Brookmyre has a startling ability to put things in place that make perfect sense on first reading but which gain a whole new significance in hindsight. The same skill shows up in a slightly different form where he lets a character's private words or actions, made public in the courtroom or on the Web, accuse them in a way never intended. The book shows the consequences of lies and deceit.

It's Parlabane, the discredited journalist with his shady methods who is left to find the answers - even if they come at some cost.