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Meantime

An absolutely gripping detective novel from one of Britain's best known comedians

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Meantime

By: Frankie Boyle
Narrated by: Chris Reilly
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About this listen

 *FRANKIE BOYLE'S GRIPPING CRIME NOVEL: AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *

'A dark and entertaining tranche of Glasgow noir . . . [A] deft, engaging thriller' Observer

'Full of scintillating sentences and perfect lines of dialogue' Sunday Times

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Glasgow, 2015. When Valium addict Felix McAveety's best friend Marina is found murdered in the local park, he goes looking for answers to questions that he quickly forgets. Felix enlists the help of a brilliant but mercurial GP; a bright young trade unionist; a failing screenwriter; semi-celebrity crime novelist Jane Pickford; and his crisis fuelled downstairs neighbour Donnie.

Their investigation sends them on a bewildering expedition that takes in Scottish radical politics, Artificial Intelligence, cults, secret agents, smugglers and vegan record shops.

Meantime is a picaresque detective story set against the backdrop of post-referendum Scotland. Frankie B
oyle's compelling debut novel is a tale of murder and revenge, and of personal and political loss.

'A darkest noir, unputdownable crime novel that swerves and surprises, with a gut-punch ending. I loved it!' Denise Mina, author of The Long Drop

'Inherent vices and scalpel-sharp jokes vie with a very human concern for those least garlanded in the rat race of life' Ian Rankin

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Pre-order Frankie Boyle's new book A Short History of the Apocalypse now! Out 7th November 2024

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Real readers love MEANTIME:

'Unlike any thriller you'll ever read' Netgalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'A brilliantly original piece of Glasgow noir . . . Fantastic' Netgalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Raw, funny, and heartfelt. I loved it' Real reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Keeps you on the edge of your seat and I loved the ending' Netgalley review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
©2022 Frankie Boyle Crime Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Funny Witty Suspense Murder

Critic Reviews

A darkest noir, unputdownable crime novel that swerves and surprises, with a gut-punch ending. I loved it!
A gloriously funny mystery that bucks the "cosy crime' trend" . . . Peppered with one-liners, it reads Raymond Chandler in Glasgow . . . Boyle regularly deploys the beautifully offbeat imagery that characterises the best of his stand-up
Starts off the funniest noir - like a Glaswegian Big Lebowski - then takes you somewhere suddenly heartbreaking . . . A debut novel that makes me absolutely INSIST there is more to come
The gags are so good that the book doesn't outstay its welcome [...] anybody who loves jet-black humour is in for a treat
Reads like a twisted Caledonian take on Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye. Inherent vices and scalpel-sharp jokes vie with a very human concern for those least garlanded in the rat race of life
Part whodunnit, part social safari, part extended stand-up monologue . . . the novel is full of scintillating sentences and perfect lines of dialogue
An enjoyably dark and entertaining tranche of Glasgow noir . . . Imagine Withnail and I stumbling into a Bond movie co-written by William McIlvanney and Mick Herron . . . [A] deft, engaging thriller
A surprisingly moving and beautiful journey through one man's sh*tshow of a friend's death/hangover
A fine slice of contemporary noir, full of acute insight into the way we live now (John Williams)
Just finished this and f*ck me, it's total class!! I'm sure all the expletive swears are coming out for this one - and so they should. Ace (Helen Stanton, Forum Books)
Meantime is a tremendous book: a detective story full of twists and turns that is as beautifully written as it is darkly comic. . . Not surprisingly, Meantime is very, very funny. But it is also a gripping work of stylised crime fiction that marks, I suspect, a new and exciting chapter in Boyle's multi-faceted career (Matthew D’ancona)
Remarkably moving
A sharply written, memorable read
Meantime flies along, filled with laughs and moments that pull you up sharp
Boyle's key strength is in creating such a believable milieu, even when events are exaggerated, underpinned but never derailed by a tongue-in-cheek humour
Frankie Boyle's fiction debut is genuinely engrossing
It's both funny and moving
[Frankie Boyle] has graduated into an extremely fine author with his first novel . . . The book lays bare the various worlds of Glasgow . . . and it slowly becomes that awful word, unputdownable, as the fascinating mixture of violence, drugs and unexpected humour surround the reader
Boyle's darkly comic debut unfolds amid vivid scenes of the seamy Glasgow underworld, its hard-bitten humour offset by an unexpectedly tender conclusion
Word-perfect dialogue and wild imagination
All stars
Most relevant
The humour is as you’d expect from Frankie Boyle, the plot is so so, and the drug portrayal is far closer to parody than reality. We all need to earn a living and so we can’t be too hard on Boyle for turning to writing like seemingly every other stand up during lock down. He does better than some, not as well as others. Certainly not a must listen, but enjoyable enough. In comedy terms, if 1 is Mrs Brown’s Boys and 10 is George Carlin, this pulls a reliable 5.

Yeah, it was alright

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Not sure you could predict even a chapter ahead.

Great story, well written - great turn of phrase . . .

Great Read!

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Absolutely loved it! Performance was on point, with different accents done perfectly. Incredibly witty with it's realistic dry jokes. The crime investigation side was interesting, I'm not too into crime novels but the humor was incredibly good, the dark jokes were captivating, and kept me interested in what turned out to be a really good, satisfying crime investigation plot.

Hilariously dark

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Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this book,
It hit some very personal moments.
Thanks Frankie Boyle….

The Last Leg

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I enjoyed this novel from Frankie, plenty of laughs in a well written package. This is his best book so far, in my opinion.

A good book, well worth checking out.

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