Meantime: The gripping debut crime novel from Frankie Boyle

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The Times named it August's Book of the Month in the thriller genre, with Dugdale praising the "scintillating sentences and perfect lines of dialogue". well that was beyond a mind trip, the 'philosophical discussions' and tangents that the characters go off on often making me wonder if I hadn't actually consumed a few hallucinogens too. Their quest takes them into the dark heart of Scottish politics, the orbit of drug dealers, and the matrix of AI, encountering Independence activists, the intelligence services, and stalkers, as they seek justice for Marina.

Frankie Boyle's gripping crime debut novel, Meantime, is a hallucinogenic ride through Glasgow as one man seeks justice for his friend's murder.Nevertheless, I felt that they were throwing plot twists quite fast and accelerating the story to a pace we'd not met before, almost as if there was a challenge to finish the book soon and squeeze it all in! Read, through the prism of what you know about the author, makes you believe that you are getting insights behind the curtain. Critics largely praised Boyle's comedic dialogue, his descriptions of Glasgow and its inhabitants, and the revelations of what led to Felix's drug dependence. In a haze of tranquilisers, hallucinogenics, and Valium, Felix McAveety decides to solve the murder of Marina, his best friend.

They meet Chong, who seems to believe reality is simulated, and find signs that British Intelligence are involved in Marina's death.If you ask me to place the book in some type of genre, I’d say it's a dark and humorous murder mystery but also quirky and unique. John Dugdale of The Times compared Meantime to the book Inherent Vice (2009) by Thomas Pynchon, which features a cannabis-consuming detective and mixes crime fiction with political satire. In a four-star review for The Daily Telegraph, Kerridge praised that the author "regularly deploys the beautifully offbeat imagery that characterises the best of his stand-up", and wrote that he could hear Boyle in his head as the narrator. Chilton preferred the "clever descriptions" over the "shock-value ones" and said that the novel succeeds as Felix is "transfixing, sharp-witted and slightly horrifying".

There’s lots of humour throughout, as you would expect from Frankie Boyle, but I enjoyed the layers of dark conspiracy that made up the mystery that Felix sets out to uncover. The plot is deliberately used as the tracks for a scenic train journey, though on closer inspection, the landscape can be quite bleak, enjoyable nonetheless. It’s VERY political, extremely satirical and I’m not sure if it’s all just Frankie Boyle writing a massive Parody of life today.This was not a crime story, it was a way for Frankie to spill all his guff onto the page and bore us all to tears. There’s also a great affection for Glasgow and its inhabitants, with all their screw-ups and foibles, and it’s this that gives the novel not just wit but heart. Baskerville, its crime fiction and thriller imprint, announced that Meantime would be one of its first major titles at its 2022 launch.