lathany

Only three months late, we finally met to discuss this Christopher Brookmyre book suggested by

ealuscerwen. Something I didn't know beforehand is that the title comes from this poem.

ealuscerwen kicked off, it being her book. She explained that she'd chosen it because she thought it was fun, it was the first of its type that she had read and that the style reminded her of science fiction. She also thought it was the sort of book that people either loved or hated and thus would provoke interesting discussion.

ealuscerwen regarded One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night as the most stand-alone of Brookmyre's work; although she said that she felt all of his books were pretty self-contained. Her favourite parts were the references to popular films, the way that each time a plan was formed it had to be replaced by something else and the bit with the cows and the weapons practise.

She asked what the rest of us thought on:
- Were the characters relevant?
- Would the book stand the test of time and be read fifty/hundred years in the future?
- Was it worthwhile or was it really style over substance?

_alanna was next up. She began by saying that she'd read the book a long time ago (this book was originally scheduled for early December). She had enjoyed it; particularly the first two chapters which were in a darker, grittier style than the rest.

_alanna had liked the high school reunion aspect and, in response to questioning, her favourite characters were Ally, Matt, Simone (whom she said she liked for being a strong female character) and Vale. She didn't want to talk too much about it as she'd asked

al_fruitbat about it the previous night to refresh her memory and she felt saying any more would be stealing his views.

al_fruitbat also enjoyed the book. He had had trouble deciphering the first sentence ("William Conner was standing outside a disused cattleshed on a bright Highland summer's morning, ankle-deep in cowshit, liquidised mercenary raining splashily down about his head from the crisp blue sky above.") and only after getting a bit further into the book realised that Brookmyre did indeed mean actual mercenary (he wasn't the only one puzzled by the first part of the chapter - I'd re-read it several times).

al_fruitbat said that he'd found the book rather clever, clever (Brookmyre pointing out his own brilliance) but added that this book did it more so than the others by Brookmyre that he had read. He liked the film references and commented on the similarities with Die Hard. He remarked that he felt some of the characters were over-hyped; Davie Murdoch, for example (the ex-bully). He also felt others were a bit too good (Vale, Black) and that Black's "midlife crisis" was rather lacking in the drama department.

al_fruitbat particularly liked Ally as a character and felt that many of the incidental characters had been nicely fleshed out (the guy who went down for a spliff and got shot, for example). He found Hector annoying because he seemed out of place and felt that the author had gone to some pains to get him on the oil rig when he blatantly didn't belong there. In terms of the questions asked he said he thought of it as a fun thing with cultural references rather than literature and was definitely style over substance.

al_fruitbat also mentioned The Sacred Art Of Stealing (which had originally been the book suggested and was changed due to not being stand-alone enough) and recommended it as Brookmyre's best book.

I was next. I didn't take notes so, be warned, this account may contain elements which I didn't actually say at the time! I began by stating that I'd really enjoyed the book and that it had reminded me a lot of my old school days. When the pop culture references started I realised that the author must be about my age (he's two years older). At this point, of course, I looked around the room saw a group of neutral expressions and realised I was surrounded by young people. I particularly liked the characters Annette, Matt and Ally (does anyone not like Ally?) and all the film references. I didn't like the first couple of chapters, I felt that they had been written in a different style and seemed more gory than the later stuff. I also felt that both Hector and Vale stuck out as being "from a previous book". I think this was because of the lack of introduction in each case and they just seemed rather added on to the main story ( this was true of both; although it turns out that Vale has never been properly back-storied).

frax was last and hadn't liked the book very much. She said that she felt there were two stories in it; one about the school reunion which she was keen on reading and one about the terrorists which she wasn't. She felt that the characters were very relevant to the school reunion part and not at all to the terrorists part. She was disappointed that she didn't get to read about their reactions to Davie Murdoch coming along in the "school reunion" setting and that the relationship between Ally and Annette was never revealed to the others at all.

frax also said that she found Brookmyre's flagging up of his own jokes rather patronising and much of the plot disappointing. She commented that she thought the thriller part of the book had little good plot in it. This led to a general discussion about thrillers and comments to the effect that it was rare to find a thriller author who could produce fresh, new plots in each new book.

frax said that the book's lastability would be down to whether people were interested in reading "cult" books in this vein in the future. She remarked that Brookmyre was not a Wilkie Collins and it would be the style rather than the substance which would keep readers interested.

ealuscerwen came back at the end and remarked that she didn't feel that the characters had much characterisation outside what was necessary for the story. She said that there was the odd good part (the scene between Annette and Ally for example), but mostly they were designed to be used in context.

There were a number of general discussion issues.

- Scottish dialect: The group discussed the use of Scottish dialect and compared with Sayers and Banks. I don't recall coming to a conclusion, but debate focussed on whether the use was warranted.

frax didn't like it much,

al_fruitbat commented on how successful it had been (odd dialect, rather than Scottish dialect, I mean!) in Feersum Endjinn.
- Location:

ealuscerwen asked whether the group thought that the book could have been located outside of Scotland. I commented that it had a rural feel and

al_fruitbat remarked it was somewhat "small town" (ie. school group was social group). It was generally agreed it could have been situated anywhere in the UK apart from inner cities.
- Genre: It was generally agreed that this book combined (or defied) genre. A sort of mixture of thriller and comedy. None of us thought "Crime" (Brookmyre had won "First Blood Award" - best crime novel - for Quite Ugly One Morning) suited it.
- Not in the real world:

al_fruitbat pointed out that Vale's use of security cameras to track the good and bad guys was totally unrealistic.
- Speech:

al_fruitbat commented that Brookmyre wrote good, natural speech.

To summarise: Three of the four members (other than

ealuscerwen who recommended it) enjoyed the book and had been purchasing other titles by the same author. The genre could be described as thriller/comedy and is effectively a light-hearted Die Hard (and aims to be).

Book Club members: Please make suggestions for additions, amendments, etc to this account. Also, could absent Book Club members add their comments.

This was my last Book Club session. Since the London Book Club was relaunched we've read Orlando (

frax), We Need To Talk About Kevin (

al_fruitbat), The Art of Murder (me), The Unbearable Lightness Of Being (Kate), One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night (

ealuscerwen) and the next book will be The Veiled Kingdom (

_alanna) - which I will probably post comments on, having read it. I've very much enjoyed the meetings and the books. Wishing the group all the best for the future (I'll be watching the book recommendations closely!)