More black comedy than true Irish noir, Divorcing Jack is my first foray into Colin Bateman. Based on first impressions I believe I will read more of his books, even if this one did not deliver on all fronts. I am already familiar with several flavors of noir : classic 1940's West Coast, East Coast, Florida camp, Scandinavian bleak, Scottish rumpus (Brookmyre). This here is an attempt to branch out into Irish, with London calling next (Ken Bruen?). And as I like to do with new authors, I have c...

A solid thriller without being ground breaking. Belfast reporter Dan Starkey gets in over his head as a drunken kiss escalates into adultery. Then his new girl is shot dead and Dan is the prime suspect.This is bad enough, but why are the UDF trying to kill him?Picked up pace towards the end, and it had some great moments of black humour. The part time nun is genius. There is enough there for me to try another book by Bateman - I just think that Brookmyre does this better.

Okay, quick synopsis. Dan Starkey is an Irish journalist who likes his drink. One day, he meets a student called Margaret and takes her back to his house when a party is in swing. There, he kisses her, gets thrown out of the house. Within 24 hours, Margaret is found murdered by Starkey with her last words being "Divorce...Jack." He goes on the run, trying to find who murdered Margaret and why? And most importantly, who is Jack and why is he divorced?This is a funny book. Seriously funny. Bateman...

A friend gave this to me for Christmas. I had never heard of Colin Bateman before but I am a fan now. I started laughing from the first page and laughed most of the way through. The story takes place during The Troubles when a politician is running to be the peace candidate. Everyone is involved from the police, the IRA and the UVF and all of them are out to get Dan Starkey, freelance writer for the Belfast papers. I don't want to give it away but it has a wonderful ending, in an awful kind of

Really enjoyed listening to this book. Will look for more from this author.

Clunky dialog and way too many coincidences that force the plot forward hamper this mystery novel.It does have an incredible cover, though.

This is how to write a crime novel. Set your book somewhere vivid. Create a flawed protagonist who has enough virtues that the reader cares. Have interesting times happen to your hero, and lay the clues to the mystery so your reader always wants to read just one more chapter.Bateman works this formula wonderfully. I thoroughly enjoyed spending a couple of days in Belfast with a disreputable journalist.If anyone out there's writing Bateman fan-fic I'd be equally happy to spend more time with the

I generally liked the book and no small part of that comes from recognizing the small bars and larger political landscape of Belfast from the mid 90s. The larger plot seems a bit ridiculous truth be told, but in Bateman's debut novel you see him finding his brilliant beta male voice infused alternately with sarcasm and feebleness that manifests itself so excellently in "Mystery Man." The scene with the nun is particularly hilarious. I plan on reading all of Bateman's works so it was good to go b...

I came to this via the movie version. And I'd have to say, this is one of the few times where the movie is better than the book. The ending, in particular, felt labored. Still and all, I agree with Rachel Griffith, who was willing to be in the movie--without even knowing what role they were offering her--on the strength of having read the book during a trans-Atlantic flight. it's a fine read.

One of the best books I have ever read, smart and hilarious. Something you're going to want to own and read every once in a while. For some reason, I always imagined Colin Bateman as a John Cleese meets Oscar Wilde kind of figure, which says enough about my admiration for the author.

Having lived in Prague and tried to cope with the language, Divorcing Jack struck a chord with me.

Funny and fast paced. Film version was a pale shadown of the book

fast-paced, easy-reading neo-noir mystery/thriller

This is a 1995 book written by Irish author Colin Bateman. It is the first in the Dan Starkey series. The setting is in early 1990s Belfast in Northern Ireland with the Northern Ireland conflict (or called The Troubles) as the historic backdrop. That is the period of time when the Irish Republican Army was still very active since it is the period before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The book is a mix of a period historic mystery and a thriller. I do like how Bateman integrates the then curr...

​Divorcing Jack By Colin BatemanI’d heard good things about Colin Bateman, and decided to start with his first, a 1998 thriller set during the troubles in Northern Ireland.Bateman’s wit carries this: as thrillers go, Divorcing Jack is laugh-out-loud funny – in a dark and violent way. The main protagonist, Dan Starkey, is a decidedly beta male (or maybe even omega of there is such a thing). He’s not strong, brave, fair, loyal, tough, or honest. He betrays his wife with little remorse. He spends a...

Colin Bateman's first published book (and winner of the Betty Trask Prize) and first in the Dan Starkey series. Subtitled Vodka, Violence & A Nun With A Gun, this dark comedy takes the young Belfast journalist from a sexual encounter into a never-ending conspiracy of violence, political intrigue and murder as he gets involved with ex-IRA turned gangsters, the Belfast political class and the NI secret services. A good read, not that funny for a dark comedy, but a fresh take on the Troubles withou...

I love the Mystery Man series so was expecting greatness when I picked this one up. Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me. The main character was someone I hated and by the end I was actually hoping things would go wrong for him. Oh well.

I liked Bateman, then went off him. Needing distraction, I re-read this, his first. And I could see why I liked him. It's a good yarn, and amusing, even if the eponymous mishearing is the weakest part of the plot.

This wasn't terrible, and I enjoyed much of it.However, I almost abandoned it immediately, because Starkey's Dad jokes were horrendously annoying. If the plot had been less engaging, I would have binned it based on that one gripe.

Entertaining, but had lots of words and setups that were unintelligible. The plot concerned The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

gangsters, thugs, Irish politics, alcohol problems, adultery, a fun, fun book.

Dan Starkey is a fantastic character and i look forward to reading more in the series. I think this story is a little over long and drags a bit in the middle section but certainly has it's charms.

I loved this book.

Fuck me, this was fucking shit!

Oh no! Not another alcoholic, immature hero. Just couldn't bring myself to finish it.

I read this when it first came out - and I remember thinking it doesn't quite live up to the cover, which is rather excellent.

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2508355.htmlI picked this up at a Brussels literary event last year, at which Bateman himself spoke and autographed a couple of his works for me. I had previously read a couple of his thrillers set in Belfast, usually involving struggling journalists who get into political and criminal difficulties, though I don't think I had looked at any of them this century. Divorcing Jack is more political, but it is a slightly different politics to our time line, set in an alte...

With plenty of Bateman and Dan Starkey under my belt, it was high time I read their first outing. At this point in my experience with his work, it was interesting to read a story set in The Troubles, rather than post-Troubles... and to catch a brief glimpse of the Starkey marriage pre-troubles with a small 't'. The latter, combined with the events of the novel, really helps with the later books.The irreverent approach to very black topics is all there, and the plot rattled along. But what happen...

Set in pre-Good Friday Northern Ireland, Divorcing Jack is a darkly comic crime adventure starring newspaper columnist Dan Starkey. When he kisses a girl at a house party, he's given 24 hours to move out by his wife. Soon, the girl is dead and her last words, "Divorce Jack", are all Starkey has to exonerate himself from the outlaws and lawmen who are after him. The setting is critical to the story and provides a depth to everything and everyone. Nobody can live amid the Troubles unblemished. Eve...

An enjoyable romp of a thriller, set in and around Belfast, with some lovely comic touches. Not massively original, but a good, entertaining take on an old standard with some very nice social commentary thrown in for good measure. Violent without being especially gritty - think Quentin Tarantino with a Northern Irish accent and you've pretty much got it. If you bought this in an airport or train station to read while travelling, you wouldn't be disappointed - but I also doubt you'd remember it o...