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But, it would keep me from wanting to box this characters ears as I burst out laughing at his latest installment of a good idea. I generally liked the book and no small part of that comes from recognizing the small bars and larger political landscape of Belfast from the mid 90s. Make no mistake, the movie has nothing to say about the Troubles; in fact, it may even offend some with its offhand remarks. In a weird moment of black comedy, he accidentally kills the victim’s mother when he collides violently with her on the stairs as he makes a getaway. If you take any of the two aspects of the film – comedic or political – and separate it from the other, maybe it really isn't all that good.That is the period of time when the Irish Republican Army was still very active since it is the period before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Given that what’s happening in Northern Ireland isn’t exactly to be taken lightly, it’s to be expected that, in the U. As a final impression, the novel holds together well in the plot and character department, but the general vibe is of light reading, as the more serious tones (present and truly disturbing) were subverted by the need to be funny at all cost. Starkey's solution is simple: find the wife, fix his marriage, bring in the bad boys, clear his name and save Ireland.

The larger plot seems a bit ridiculous truth be told, but in Bateman's debut novel you see him finding his brilliant beta male voice infused alternately with sarcasm and feebleness that manifests itself so excellently in "Mystery Man. As Dan tries to get to grips with what has become of his life, Margaret is murdered whilst he has nipped out for pizza and he becomes the focus of a man hunt, but what do Margaret's last words mean. The film's messages about the horrors and idiocy of war and particularly the Irish civil war are familiar and would have been corny in a straight drama, but as in Catch-22 and other classic black comedies, the absurd humor of the film makes it powerful. Still and all, I agree with Rachel Griffith, who was willing to be in the movie--without even knowing what role they were offering her--on the strength of having read the book during a trans-Atlantic flight.

Time after time he was kidnapped, beaten, shot, released, escaped or saved, and the book ended with him alive and went home to his wife. McKinty also has a mineshaft seam of black humour, and his character Sean Duffy drinks more than seems humanly possible at times, but the Duffy novels have greater depth and reality. I don't know how best to describe the greatness of parts of "Mystery Man" except through my example of shamelessly pushing the title on friends and strangers alike.

A mint shared with a woman he barely knows as his wife whispers in his ears, "You have twenty-four hours to move out. There's a little piece of trivia in the book that almost passes unnoticed but it is enough to make me not want to find out more about the game of Irish roulette: it involves a petrol bomb and an ability to blow out matches very quickly.With the exception of an unexpected ending turning on double murder, the plot machinations are formulaic, but Bateman rarely lets the action flag. As Dan noted himself, he feels like Richard Hannay in John Buchan’s famous novel The Thirty- Nine Steps. I think Sean Duffy’s first involved a homosexual element in the IRA, and a rent boy: now that was unexpected – and the characters felt more complex, and real. Starkey and Parker are taken to a council block Keegan controls, where Keegan threatens to kill Parker unless Starkey hands over the tape. The novel was well received by Christina Hardyment of The Independent, who stated that " James Nesbitt's almost edible Irish voice enhances the wit and wizardry of a story that is as much a mystery novel as a romance, and which deservedly won the Betty Trask Award in 1994".