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One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

Author: Christopher Brookmyre
Publisher: Abacus
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

53 reviews
Sales Rank: 6255

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.9 x 1.1

ISBN: 0349112096
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780349112091
ASIN: 0349112096

Publication Date: May 4, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Nice clean book

Also Available In:

•	Paperback - One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night
•	Paperback - One Fine Day In The Middle of the Night.
•	Paperback - One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
Christopher Brookmyre's One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night is a lethal farce in which nothing goes quite according to plan. The mercenaries and terrorists who seize an oil rig converted into an international resort are almost too busy wanting to kill each other to get on with the job, for one thing, and, for another, the group they take hostage are a high-school reunion rather than the conference of the internationally famous they are expecting. One of the high-school year went on to be a famous gangland hardman before reforming, and another is a darkly brilliant comic whose career is on the skids--and a couple more have spent far too much time in the cinema not to know what Bruce Willis would do... This is a splendidly constructed darkly funny novel in which the oddest things prove suddenly lethal and in which the imagined geography of a closed environment is at once a trap, and a playground for heroism, double cross and the sudden discovery of true love. The running gags and knowingness about movies ought to be less amusing than they are, but Brookmyre's underlying affection for ordinary people and contempt for bullies stops them being self-indulgent.

Customer Reviews: Read 48 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Mad, and hugely entertaining May 26, 2008
Typical Brookmyre, and a very good example of why his books are so entertaining. The plot is slightly potty, but really quite cruelly witty -surely striking a chord with all of us who have ever considered attending a school reunion (and possibly considered turning up with an Ak-47 to finish the job! There's very good reasons why most of us loose touch with our old schoolmates).

As with his other books, casting the movie (why isn't there one yet?) can keep you entertained for some while. Wheel out all of your favourite Scottish actors and see who you would prefer.

Violent, daft, and a great laugh from start to finish, this is perfect for an undemanding read in between all that brain stretching stuff I'm sure you normally read!

"Die Hard" with Special Brew ...

5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!! September 1, 2007
This is the second Brookmyre book I have read and I definitely want to continue reading more. It reads like a Glaswegian 'Die Hard' and the dialogue is witty fast and very funny. I loved how the hostages reverted easily back into their roles at high school and the tensions between the gunmen.

5 out of 5 stars

Best of the bunch August 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

In my opinion, having read every Brookmyre novel & short stories, this is his BEST work. The plot sypnosis is familiar to all so no need to go over it.

Most people i assume will find empathy with most of the characters - even the second in command of the mercaneries as his team are killing each other off (ex Loyalist and provo paramiliteries rarely make good co-workers) getting killed off by "amateurs" & to top it all getting the sword of acidic pithy dressing downs from his boss in the style that only a well educated former upper crust army major could muster.

It is a very entertaining read and one that i will read again sometime.

5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely fantastic May 23, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is the first of Brookmyre's books that I have read, and it's only started me wanting to read the others. It doesn't matter that the story is Die Hard on an oil rig - sit back and enjoy the puns, the witticisms, the black humour and the incredible violence. A hilarious read.

4 out of 5 stars

Brookmyre's best April 10, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I sometimes think that Christopher Brookmyre should have gone into screenplays rather than novels. There's no question that he has a wonderful turn of phrase - shame it's too filthy to quote here - which helps to distract attention from some fairly major deficiencies in his writing - such as all his characters being basically the same (tough, no nonsense, unconventional rule-breakers, nearly always Scottish, nearly always atheist, socialist Old Firm-haters, who defy witless superiors to GET THE JOB DONE) and huge chunks of characters' history dumped clumsily in the middle of the action, completely destroying the momentum (the phrase 'show don't tell' has clearly never meant anything to him).

Anyway One Fine Day... is both his best novel, and the one that's most obviously cinematic. The story is not particularly original - basically Die Hard on a Scottish oil rig, as I'm not the first to note - but it's told with great style. The characters hold to the description above but are some of his most likeable, and once it gets going the action moves along nicely. Brookmyre's pitch-black humour is put to good use, including some terrific one-liners and probably the funniest, most tasteless opening sequence I've ever read.