Meantime: The gripping debut crime novel from Frankie Boyle

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In a haze of tranquillisers, hallucinogens and Valium, her best friend Felix McAveety decides to solve the murder. There is a lot going on in the blurb and it was a perfect indicator because there was a lot going on in the book; in a good way. However, some reviewers criticised the plot as unfocused and that some digressions are excessive or read like Boyle is directly expressing his thoughts. It was laugh out funny at times but he is trying to squeeze in way too many themes and personal rants. Kelly gave a mixed review, questioning why Boyle wrote a fiction book when he could have been "far more piercing and precise" in non-fiction and whether the characters are just "ventriloquist's puppets" for Boyle's thoughts.

It’s VERY political, extremely satirical and I’m not sure if it���s all just Frankie Boyle writing a massive Parody of life today. Docherty – an activist who Felix remembers from his bizarre scripts that he pitched to BBC Scotland. If you ask me to place the book in some type of genre, I’d say it's a dark and humorous murder mystery but also quirky and unique. Highlighting the writing style, Merritt found that Boyle was accomplished with his dialogue and wordplay, but a "great affectation for Glasgow . Frankie Boyle did a brilliant job of making it feel relevant and of its time, whilst still tapping into many of the arguments that still prevail.There’s lots of humour throughout, as you would expect from Frankie Boyle, but I enjoyed the layers of dark conspiracy that made up the mystery that Felix sets out to uncover. His conversations with celebrity author Jane Pickford contained some of the most naturally flowing dialogue I’ve read in a while and his balls-to-the-wall interaction with his hyperactive downstairs neighbor Donnie had me in tears from laughing. I do however think that the mystery thriller aspect of the book was kind of secondary to all of the other stuff. I know that Frankie Boyle is a bit of a Marmite comedian, so if you do love him, I’m sure you’ll love this book.

They meet Chong, who seems to believe reality is simulated, and find signs that British Intelligence are involved in Marina's death.Felix and Donnie, with the assistance of Jane Pickford, a celebrity crime novelist, end up out of their depth in a world of nationalist politics, artificial intelligence and espionage. Meantime does have virtues, especially towards the closing pages where we are given a reason for Felix’s personality. However, he praised Chong's dialogue on Chinese stereotypes and British imperialism as the best monologue in the book and found the history of Felix's addiction "remarkably moving" as it provides "pathos that overrides the usual sarcasm and snarl". Nobody comes across terribly realistic, not in any kind of way that undercuts the pathos of the real emotional core, but it is bizarre nonetheless. Meantime was Boyle's first fiction book, [2] though he had previously authored four non-fiction works: the autobiography My Shit Life So Far (2009); a collection of his columns from The Sun titled Work!