Meantime: The gripping debut crime novel from Frankie Boyle

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Reading the blurb for this book (on multiple occasions) I could not get my head around what it was going to be like. As long as you pick up Meantime with an open mind and you’re not opposed to dark humour and a lot of swearing, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. It's a bit tongue in cheek and doesn't take itself that seriously - which, for me, made it all the more enjoyable and easy to read.

Marina Katos’s body is found in a park and the police don’t seem to know or care who committed the crime. He most definitely wasn’t stupid, but he did seem to be numbed by all of the drugs he was taking which I think held him back in his investigation. Told in first person, this is a story which is as confusing as it is entertaining and which is packed with humour. Of course they want everyone to stick to the rules of civility, because those rules stop people from asking them why they have all the fucking stuff.If you ask me to place the book in some type of genre, I’d say it's a dark and humorous murder mystery but also quirky and unique. I found this an entertaining eclectic romp, although the crime story is just the a vague excuse for an outline.

For me, the central character seemed to be very much Frankie Boyle himself, he certainly used his jokes.If you like a character who has the capacity to surprise and whose laid back exterior actually hides a very deep emotional core, then I think you may well bond with him. Felix is neither happy nor lucky, but he is good-hearted, which, in Boyle’s universe, is always likely to be a mistake.