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Grandad, There's A Head On The Beach (2012)

by Colin Cotterill(Favorite Author)

3.71 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0857387081 (ISBN13: 9780857387080)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Quercus

series

Jimm Juree

review 1: The murder mystery genre is more or less a century old and I imagine it is a challenge for a writer to write a story that hasn’t been told. The author takes on this challenge with a collection of extremely marginal characters such as ex crime reporter Jimm Juree and her sister who used to be her brother. The setting is literally on the margins. A rundown resort in southern Thailand that is on its way to slipping into the sea. The plot also incorporates elements from contemporary culture such as karaoke and social media. The result is sometimes inspired; a couple of chapters at the end alone make the book worth reading. The situation brought on by the discovery of the head on the beach is eventually resolved through the incredible courage of very ordinary characters... more – not exactly credible, but nevertheless an encouraging thing to believe in. However, I felt there were too many quirky characters, too much dissonance between the ridiculous and the tragic, and definitely too many cutesy quotes from mispronounced karaoke lyrics. Nevertheless, I will probably continue reading the series because it seems to be leading the way in bringing a postmodern sensibility to the genre.
review 2: Second in the new series by Colin Cotterill, it is very funny, yet deals with a serious issue - the treatment of Burmese refugees in Thailand. All the characters from the first book are back, including the members of Jimm's rather unusual family - her 58-year-old mother, suffering occasional bouts of dementia but capable of astonishing listeners with her off-the-wall comments; her older brother now a woman, who's a techie whiz, her brother Arne who's brawn disguises his lack of brain, and her grandfather, a former policeman, who has memorized the Thai traffic code. less

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