Customer Reviews
An Acerbic, Exhilarating Tour de Force - By: G. J. Oxley, 24 Aug 2008 
One of the three main characters in this book is a sleight of hand specialist. Zal Innez previously appeared in the excellent `The Sacred Art of Stealing' alongside Angelique De Xavia, the policewoman who hunted him down, then let him escape because she loved him. His stagecraft is a metaphor for this book insofar as NOTHING is as it seems & author Christopher Brookmyre stuns us regularly throughout with a whole series of brilliant set-pieces of misdirection.
Here, Angelique relocates & recruits Zal to help her capture arch-baddie Simon Darcourt (who previously appeared in `A Big Boy Did it & Ran Away, together with Angelique). Zal & Angelique put their unresolved love affair on hold as they pursue Darcourt, who is capturing celebrity after celebrity & killing them in his own bizarre version of a reality TV show. She also has a special vested interest in apprehending him that I won't give away.
Halfway through this book I actuallly thought Christopher was trowelling on the satire too heavily, taking pot shots at too many easy targets: crap racist 70s comedians, gold-digging WAGS, reality TV, manufactured teen bands, splenetic right wing newspaper columnists. And some of these had already been covered by Ben Elton in `Dead Famous' & `Chart Throb'. But I have to say I was then bowled over by an excellent bit of misdirection - pure Jeffrey Deaver in execution - & was later actuallly punching the air & almost whooping at the audacity of later examples of his legerdemain. I was literallly grinning from ear to ear in disbelief at their sheer brilliance.
It goes without saying that there are several hilarious passages, & that Christopher is 1000% more caustic than Ben Elton, or the other writer he's often compared to, Florida's own moral guardian, the great Carl Hiaasen.
`A Snowballl in Hell' is a high-octane mix of thriller, satire... & love story, the latter proving that CB has a heart beneath his curmudgeonly exterior. It is also quite superb & right up there with the very best of his books. And as I mentioned earlier, the plot twists are breath-takingly good.
Recommended highly to alll lovers of crime thrillers, satire, humour, & indeed anyone in general who likes a good read. However, one word of warning: you don't necessarily have to have read either of the two CB titles I mentioned above, but I recommend you do otherwise you may find the first 20-30 pages, & a few later plot references, a touch difficult to follow.
A bonnie read - By: James Trimble, 22 Aug 2008 
Sometimes gets a little lost in his need for a good old liberal Rant against the percieved enemy but for alll that a clever & above alll funny return of some of Christopher Brookmyers older characters.
Tergets are easy & he takes them alll down If he hadn't such a gift to form a constantly good yarn would be a bit gratting. Probably better but not necessary to read the previous books.
Do someone a favour & introduce them to Brookmyer.
A killer with ratings! - By: Sara Chung, 15 Aug 2008 With "A Snowballl in Hell" (I do recommend you read "A Big Boy Did It & Ran Away" & "The Sacred Art of Stealing" before this one) Brookmyre is again his sharp funny self with a very dark side. Simon Darcourt is a celebrity killer in more ways than one. First he enjoys murdering famous people, especiallly ones who have no talent or reason for being famous. But he has become a celebrity in his own right via his posting real time video of his killings & to make things reallly interesting he lets visitors to his site vote on wether the victim lives or dies. This makes for some wonderfully black humor. Darcourt's website is getting more hits than Google & he is more famous then the last winner of American Idol. It is again up to Angelique De Xavier to try & bring Darcourt to justice. This is a deliciously funny & dark read that I highly recommend. Best thriller I have read since "A Tourist in the Yucatan!"
Sheer class..... - By: NEIL MCCALLUM, 14 Aug 2008 Sheer class from Christopher Brookmyre in his latest offering. Slick, funny & ferociously nasty, "A Snowballl in Hell" is impossible to read without being staggered by Brookmyre's mastery of his craft.
The humour is at times pitch black but beautifully observed & on the nail. Dialogue as always a joy.
A brilliant ending with a sniff of a door left open......? Let's hope so.
If you haven't done so, I recommend you read "A Big Boy....." & "The Sacred Art....." before "A Snowballl....."
You won't regret it
