PAUL D. BRAZILL - MAN OF THE WORLD (2020)

Synopsis/blurb....

Ageing hit-man Tommy Bennett left London and returned to his hometown of Seatown, hoping for respite from the ghosts of the violent past that haunted him. However, things don’t go to plan and trouble and violence soon follow Tommy to Seatown. Tommy is soon embroiled in Seatown’s underworld and his hopes of a peaceful retirement are dashed. Tommy deliberates whether or not to leave Seatown and return to London. Or even leave Great Britain altogether. So, he heads back to London where violence and mayhem await him.

Man of the World is a violent and darkly comic slice of Brit Grit noir.

Praise for MAN OF THE WORLD:

“Hitman Tommy Bennett’s first-person narration is spot on [in Man of the World]. He’s perceptive and fills each page with dry and often hilarious commentary, taking in everything from politics to pop music, social order and criminal disorder. Paul D Brazill excels at dialogue too. Cold fatalism is as evident in the conversation as it is in the violence. There’s a strong theme here and it’s one of the author’s favourite topics: fading glory. Tommy Bennett, like his colleagues and counterparts, like Britain itself, is staving off the inevitable…and he knows it.” —Crime Fiction Lover

Ticks in all the usual boxes..... pace, story, character, setting, humour, action, violence, a smattering of farce and a sense of the absurd, at times whimsical and nostalgic, before deadpan old school retribution is divvied up, cultural references, dialogue and of equal satisfaction, the sense that the star of the piece, hitman Tommy Bennett might have another adventure or two left in him for future enjoyment.

Classic one liners that are Brazill's trademark......

"Isn't the phrase 'reality TV star' an oxymoron?"

"It is a truth universally acknowledged"........ "that all Jane Austen needed was a bloody good shag."

References that establish the book as quintessentially Brit Grit, with the inevitable American undertones and influences seeping into UK culture.

Seatown, London, aging, health issues, family, old friends, old enemies, long memories, gangsters, cops, guns, death, booze, pubs, cafes, kebabs, jukeboxes, ciggies, cocaine, a secret Ministry, Thatcher, Bowie, Ripley and Highsmith, AC/DC, Carol Vorderman, Camden Market, Donna Summer, Elton John, Warsaw, and an intended retirement that just won't stick.

A busy book and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

5 from 5

Last Year's Man, the first Tommy Bennett book was enjoyed last year. 

Read - May, 2020

Published - 2020

Page count - 136

Source - purchased copy

Format - paperback