All Cut Up by Bruce Crowther

All Cut Up by Bruce Crowther
Buy All Cut Up by Bruce Crowther at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: General Fiction
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Summary: Black satire with a real plot and great characters. There's something in there to ofend everyone.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 244	Date: May 2014
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 978-1499167153
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Jimmy and his Mum were at the supermarket when she disappeared. He didn't immediately think that it was a problem - after all she was suffering from dementia and out of roughly the last hundred and fifty visits to GetItAll he'd lost his mother on thirty five of them. But - she wasn't usually gone for this long and then there was the nagging worry that she might have become the latest victim of the Acton Axeman - a serial killer who was targeting blond, slightly-plump women wearing green - a description which fitted Jimmy's Mum to a tee.

The police weren't unduly interested either, until Sergeant Charlie Rivett came on the scene. Some people would be rather offended if they knew that others thought of them as a bit of a bastard. Charlie was different. Charlie was proud of it. You wouldn't need to ask - he'd tell you. He had something of a chip on his shoulder (well, actually, it was more the output of a medium-sized McDonalds) about his promotion - or rather, lack of it. Obviously if it became known that he had a lead in the Acton Axeman the case would be taken away from him and taken over by the idiots with degrees, so Charlie has to tread just a bit carefully on this one.

Jimmy's got support though. He's captain of a quiz team and they're really rather good. They're known simply as The Team and they're banned from some pubs. They have to saunter in separately and meet casually and agree to have a go at tonight's quiz... They're something of an unusual combination. Jimmy's girlfriend is V, a martial arts expert whose parents came from Nigeria. Add in an aged Jewish busker with a penchant for bomb making, a skinhead with an extraordinary photographic memory - but no understanding of what he's read - and Jamal from Dubai who is into ballroom dancing. Oh - and you're going to meet a couple of strange MPs (yes - stranger than you might think) and a luscious lady from the BBC.

The author describes the book as black comedy. I'd say that it's black satire and it's completely politically incorrect. If you're easily offended then rest assured that everyone else is going to be offended too. I've read a few books recently where the 'story' was just a vehicle for pushing out the gags - and I'm afraid it's not long before you get tired of it. But All Cut Up is different, with a real plot in there complete with a twist I really didn't spot and characters you can warm to/love to hate/enjoy sniggering at. I enjoyed it!

I'd like to thank the publisher for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

We've enjoyed books by Bruce Crowther before. Have a look at Penitence and Harlem Nocturne. Don't think in terms of a series - Crowther's book are all originals.

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