Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman

Cycle of Violence Reviews

• 
  Bill

  Hmm. I don't know about this one. It was alright, I guess. Not spectacular or violent as I mistakenly gleaned from the title.
• 
  Mikkel

  Fuck. I'm a Bateman fan, but honestly, this might be his best book I've read so far. It is amazingly easy to read, the pages turn themselves, that's no surprise. He's always been able to do that. But it's the gut punch, the emotional impact it has that I really did not see coming.
• 
  Keith Stopforth

  I really enjoy Colin Bateman books and this one is equally as good as past books I have read, He has a wicked sense of humour and also a very dark side and with his knowledge and experience of the troubles in Ireland this makes for a very good read .
• 
  Crooked Eye

  Abandonded the audiobook very early. The American accent does absolutely no favours for the Irish lyricism. Perhaps if the narrator insisted on attempting the Irish accent he should have completed a level of competency before doing the book instead of using it as a learning curve. Hopefully he managed it before the end of the book but I couldn't stick around for it.
• 
  Daniel Henshaw

  Gripping and hilarious for the first two-thirds. Dragged its feet a bit in the third act.
• 
  Beruthiel

  It's a real pity that it was not read by an Irish narrator.
• 
  Martin Willoughby

  Witty, thrilling, but very dark.
• 
  Dane Divine

  Great book. Again, funny as can be and beautifully twisted.
• 
  Sandie

  Dark and delicious humour - not for the faint hearted. One of his best.
• 
  Simon

  Dark and disturbing with a vein of comedy running right through it. Has one the best unhappy endings of any book I've ever read.
• 
  Tony

  I saw the film Divorcing Jack (based on a Bateman novel of the same name) many years ago, enjoyed it, then saw this in the store and bought it, and now, some 15 years or so later, I've finally got around to reading it. The good news is that my initial instinct was right -- I love comic fiction, and if it's dark comedy, so much the better. This book fits the bill nicely, with line after line of comic wordplay and nasty humor. Miller is a loose cannon of an investigative journalist who is banished from his Belfast gig after insulting his boss in a drunken tirade, and sent to work at a provincial arm of the paper in a tiny town called Crossmaheart (har har). Unfortunately for him, this being Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s, the town is crawling with IRA and Orangemen looking to off each other, as well as anyone who gets in the way. And one person who might have gotten in the way is Miller's predecessor, who has disappeared. But on the plus side of this banishment, there's the lovely and tempestuous barmaid Marie, with whom Miller quickly becomes besotten. However, since she was Milburn's girlfriend prior to his disappearance, the situation is a little tricky. And thus, darkly wacky antics ensue -- with a body count to rival your typical blockbuster thriller, along with plenty of laughs. Bateman is the kind of writer whose response to a tragic situation is to stare it in the face and point out how absurd it is by milking it for all the dark laughs he can get (the book includes probably the best Holocaust joke I've come across). Definitely worth reading if you like good wordplay and comic writing, and/or have an interest in Ireland.
• 
  Mark Speed

  This was recommended by a work colleague, and it didn't disappointed. The protagonist is a stereotypical journalist - drunk, outspoken and angry. The 'cycle of violence' is a reference to the bicycle he rides to the violent scenes of the Troubles. He's reassigned to what would have been called 'bandit country', where the Loyalists and Republicans are facing off in a small community. Black humour - lovely.
• 
  Sandi

  Set mainly in the small town of Crossmaheart in Northern Ireland, this was rather a bit too dark and depressing for me and while there was some dark humor it was not nearly as funny as I remember his first book
  Divorcing Jack being. I listened to the audio version and unfortunately the narration by Andrew Jackson was rather pedestrian.
• 
  Matthew Catania

  Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman is a good quick read set in 1990s Northern Ireland. It's mordantly funny, but I don't think it's as hilarious as the the dust jacket told me. Manic depression & the lifelong effects of sexual abuse are handled very maturely with most of the punchlines being about terrorism & manslaughter. The Femme Fatale trope is subverted. It's kind of like Martin McDonagh work. Most importantly, the scene on this cover does happen in the book.
• 
  Rachel

  Depressing as hell, but very clever and entertaining. The story was brilliantly crafted and brilliantly told. Even the title was perfect because it worked on several levels. It wasn't just another depressing book - it was a heartbreaking, unforgettable tragedy. The story and characters are etched in my memory years later.
• 
  Jennifer

  Blimey this was black, even for Bateman. First published before the Good Friday Agreement, it provides a bleak picture of Northern Irish town life along with the usual self-deprecating male mayhem. It's also a very sweet sad love story and a series of heartbreaking puns. Plus a curious dollop of Barbara Pym-esque boarding house life.
• 
  Gary

  This is the second of his books I've read (the first being Mystery Man) and although I enjoyed the sense of humour and dark quality to the book I would have liked a less depressing ending - perhaps that's me being an old romantic at heart but I do like some smidgen of happiness in my endings.
• 
  Kel

  Good book, even though it made me want to commit suicide.
• 
  Mike Worth

  Have read most of his books and can't remember all exactly - just that I have never been let down and have enjoyed Mr Bateman's writing immensely
• 
  Anne Graham

  Read 'Divorcing Jack' first.
• 
  Garrett

  I'll give it this: It ends well.
• 
  Laurent Szklarz

  Could be use as a screen play for a Guy Ritchie movie. For those who don't understand the reference: this is a highly entertaining book
• 
  Michael Bolan

  The grimmest ending I've seen in a long time. Just what home is really like.