One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
"Something dumb and fun", my self-prescription read, following Katie Ward-induced torpor. Well, noone, least of all me, would accuse Christopher Brookmyre of being dumb, but his brutal intelligence is purely at a textual level - the wordplay, the plot, the jokes - as opposed to some wanky meta-bollocks. (Sorry, brain's auto-censor function still temporarily disabled.)And, oh, what fun! So much so that I totally overlooked my professional responsibility to myself; major rule of medication administration: be aware of the ADVERSE BLOODY SIDE EFFECTS! Addiction (and sheer inability to stop reading) ranks pretty highly amongst these. So, essay schedule totally to cock. Although this could count as research; I spotted the words 'veracity' and 'dementia' - both major themes of my assignment - in the text...The premise of an ill-fated school reunion definitely dates the book to an innocent, pre-Facebook time (set in 2000, to be precise); they've become pretty redundant, seeing as every night is an online school reunion these days, courtesy of host Mark Zuckerberg. But the Brookmyrisms - a too-cool-to-be-credible character (Tim Vale), surprising musical references (Greg Dulli), and very Scottish in-jokes - are no less welcome for their inevitability.And so perceptive too. This was my favourite passage:This was the moment to put the brakes on and take stock, she knew. To say 'Oh, sorry about that', and make jokes about pretending it never happened. This was the moment you took your pleasure back to the shop and spent the refund on guilt. A night charged with nostalgia, that least trustworthy of emotions; a marriage falling apart; the regrets and if onlys of a needlessly unrequited teenage crush; and not forgetting champagne on an empty stomach.Incidentally, Brookmyre's town-of-residence (one up from me, geographically) boasts some nice wee coffee shops and is the perfect place to disappear to and get lost in a book for a couple of hours. Whenever I've been there I've thought, wouldn't it be funny if I met him? Such thoughts left me wholly unprepared for the day I DID actually see him in the street, on a zebra crossing with (presumably) his son. All hopes of witty repartee or self-deprecating autograph-seeking evaporated, leaving me, I think, merely staring at him like an imbecile. Possibly open-mouthed. Oh, the shame.
Okay, so biting the bullet on my next couple of reviews because I’m behind and don’t want to get even further behind by being paralyzed about what to say.Bottom line about One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night (which is apparently named after a Robbie Williams song–thanks, Kat!): super fun spoof of action films in book form. Great characters even though they could have been flimsy. Very funny. Features dialogue written in the Scottish dialect, which I thought was really fun (but then again, I never seem to have a problem interpreting accents in books or movies). Never read anything like it before. Really wish it was a movie.There, that’s the gist of my thoughts.I actually received my copy of this as part of the first annual Cannonball Read Book exchange a couple of Christmases ago. And my book came to me all the way from Austria! I’ve felt bad that I couldn’t get to it before now, and I’m glad that I enjoyed it when I did. The story of a class reunion happening on a decked out oil rig was the absolute perfect setting. Having not one, but two characters who became famous (or infamous) come back to the reunion as a sort of self-evaluation was really satisfying. The twists were fun. The character who was obsessed with action movies was useful and delightful. The book satisfied my need for tropes to be fulfilled, and yet also surprised me by turning some on their heads and poking fun at them. It’s very Scottish, also.If you can stomach violence and swearing, you should definitely check this book out. It’s a quick read, and it’s really fun. I will definitely be reading more books by Christopher Brookmyre (and hopefully those books will get better reviews than this one did).
What do You think about One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night (2000)?
If only there was another star to give this book!I have just been introduced to Christopher Brookmyre and have been seriously impressed with his dark humour, fast pace and excellent story lines but One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night takes this to another level. I cannot find fault with this book, except it ends.Being classed as 'crime' has always out me off reading his novels but it just goes to show, you should never judge a book by it's genre. Yes, this is a thriller of epic proportions (school reunion, oil rig, terrorists) but Brookmyre combines this with some of the most hilarious scenes I have ever read. I cannot do any of them justice and would trivialise what is an incredibly well written, well timed and gripping read if I tried.
—Pippa
One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night Christopher Brookmyre★★★This is a story about a school reunion on of all places an oil rig that has been converted into a holiday complex (can you imagine being stuck with former school mates in a hotel with no escape?) unfortunately sinister plans are afoot and it turns out a reunion in "paradise" is anything but predictable.I really enjoyed this story, the humour is dark and made me chuckle several times, the writing is fast paced and the story line compelling, which made it an easy read.Despite really enjoying it I am only giving it 3 stars as I felt there was nothing spectacular about it, an enjoyable read but not great literature.”
—Book Wormy
This is a highly enjoyable emotional roller coaster. I loved the combination of absurd humour, sharp unexpected thrills and touching, relatable character interactions. The characters are likeable, easy to relate to and plausible - indeed throughout the book you may actually find yourself truly caring for their well being in the various situations they get into. However, this book is not purely a thriller - the author also keeps us on our toes by using witty, engaging and intelligent language as well as some hilarious intelligent jokes/comments littered on every page (which may provoke some serious belly laughs). Finally yet another advantage of this novel is that the plot is thoroughly engaging and definitely difficult to predict - both of which are due to the fast pace and the author's determined intent to be subversive to the general crime story; this is what makes the novel such an addictive, intriguing pleasure to read and is ultimately what makes readers stuck to this book until the very end.However, this book seems to lack any real depth and it seems to just over-reach itself slightly too much in the last few pages; indeed in the last 20 pages we are not really offered any real closure or message after reading through the entire novel and (no spoilers) there is just simply too much for the characters to do at the end. I would have appreciated it if we got something more at the end, just for closure. This is why I gave it four stars, I only give 5 stars to truly perfect books that you cannot throw away and forget after reading (unlike this book, unfortunately). Anyway, my personal pickiness aside, this was a very enjoyable book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is bored and wants an emotional thrill ride and/or someone who is tired of the generic crime thriller format and is looking for something different + engaging.4/5
—Cadfan
