Divorcing Jack

by Colin Bateman Narrated by Adam Moore

Overview

Dan Starkey is a young journalist in Belfast, who shares with his wife, Patricia, a prodigious appetite for drinking and dancing. Then Dan meets a beautiful and apparently impoverished student. And then, terrifyingly, she is murdered. Is it because she was not exactly who she claimed to be? Is it the IRA? A Protestant extremist group? A jealous lover? Before long, Dan is a target himself...

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Witty, fast-paced and engaging, Bateman's debut novel deals with the dilemma of a young Belfast columnist who looks beyond his marriage for sexual satisfaction only to get caught up in a search for damaging information about a prominent political candidate. When Dan Starkey returns to the apartment of his new conquest, Margaret McBride, after going out for pizza, he finds the young brunette riddled with bullets; worse, Starkey accidentally kills the woman's mother during a subsequent struggle in the dark. Margaret turns out to have been a politician's daughter, and her dying utterance (``divorce... Jack... divorce'') sends the fugitive Starkey in pursuit of a tape that reveals the sordid past of the leading candidate in the upcoming election for prime minister. As he hunts for the tape, Starkey is pursued by several parties, including an IRA contingent with a reputation for mayhem and violence. With the exception of an unexpected ending turning on double murder, the plot machinations are formulaic, but Bateman rarely lets the action flag. What makes this tale stand out, however, is the wit and charm of its protagonist, a sweet-tempered cynic with a devilish sense of humor. The intricate Irish politics are gracefully rendered, and Bateman's wry take on the gritty Belfast landscape adds an appealingly light touch. The author apparently has another Dan Starkey novel in the works; that's very good news indeed. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Dan Starkey is a Belfast columnist, determined wit, and dedicated alcoholic. At one of the numerous parties he and wife Patricia organize, Starkey meets a young woman and begins his first extramarital affair. Before the cheating is well under way, Starkey's lover is murdered, and he becomes the principal suspect. Unfortunately, his lover's father was involved in Irish politics, and Starkey is shortly on the lam from both police and terrorists. While trying to extricate himself from this predicament, Starkey hooks up with another beautiful woman disguised as a nun, a priest with a new heart, and an American journalist who may be a CIA agent. Bateman's first novel, set in and around Belfast, is a jaunty thriller, exciting and funny. Buy everywhere fiction is read.-A.J. Wright, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170224814
Publisher:	W. F. Howes Ltd
Publication date:	09/01/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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