Changes

|publisher=Jonathan Cape

|date=June 2012

|website=http://http://www.martinamisweb.com/

|summary=When the violent thug, Lionel Asbo wins the lottery while serving time in prison, life changes for him, but his ward and nephew remains in dread fear of his uncle finding out about his affair with Lionel's mother. This was probably more fun to write than to read, but is saved by some delicious Amis touches.

}}

Martin Amis can be relied upon to create some pretty nasty, self-centred central characters. Usually they are upper class cads and bounders but in ''Lionel Asbo'' his central character is at the polar opposite in terms of class. He's violent, uncouth and ignorant. He's a criminal whose usual sidekicks are a pair of vicious pit bulls. His 'manner' is a fictitious down trodden area of London called Diston Town where he lives in a tower block with his nephew, Des, who in fact is the central character in the book. Des, in contrast is far more sympathetic - intelligent and kind, that is if you overlook the fact that as a 15 year old he had an affair with his grandmother, Lionel's mother. Hey, no one's perfect.