The Last Four Days Of Paddy Buckley: A Novel - Softcover

Massey, Jeremy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1594634858 ISBN 13: 9781594634857

Publisher: Hudson Street Press (an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc), 2015

Synopsis

A dark and unexpected novel about a Dublin undertaker who finds himself on the wrong side of the Irish mob. Paddy Buckley is a grieving widower who has worked for years for Gallagher's, a long-established - some say the best - funeral home in Dublin. One night driving home after an unexpected encounter with a client, Paddy hits a pedestrian crossing the street. He pulls over and gets out of his car, intending to do the right thing. As he bends over to help the man, he recognises him. It's Donal Cullen, brother of the most notorious mobster in Dublin. And he's dead.

About this title

Review

"Jeremy Massey puts a fresh and intriguing spin on the Irish crime novel with the tale of an ordinary man drawn into a deadly conflict with a Dublin mob boss. The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley is both a cleverly constructed thriller and an unforgettable story of friendship, love, and loyalty. It's sharply written, darkly comic, and full of heart." --Harry Dolan, author of New York Times bestseller Bad Things Happen (Berkley, 2010)

"It's a very funny novel which keeps you hoping that despite his many prophecies of the dire fate that awaits him, Paddy will somehow pull through. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you the ending but I will say that Massey neatly ties together all those bits and bobs of funeral lore, including the embalming." --A Life In Books

"[Massey's] dark and zany humor is anchored by some serious reflection." - Library Journal

&quotIntelligent and suspenseful debut novel...A hilarious funeral home scam and a quirky dead body mix-up add to this exciting, morbid tale." --Publisher's Weekly

"There are truths about life and death in this novel that will leave the reader wrestling with questions of mortality long after the end." --The Irish Times

"As the debut novel from a screenplay writer, it has the dynamism of a motion picture, and the fact that Massey comes from a family of undertakers gives the scenes set in Paddy's workplace a ghoulish authenticity." --Scotland Herald

"It's almost impossible not to like Paddy - he's the quintessential everyman we've seen a thousand times before, trying to play the nice guy and please everyone whilst simultaneously digging himself into a deeper and deeper well of trouble, and I was on tenterhooks waiting for the inevitable fallout when the mobsters discovered the truth." --The Bookbag

"Insanely readable, indeed the ultimate page-turner where you can't wait to find out how the likeable Paddy could possibly evade being rumbled and murdered by the vengeful Vincent and his psychopathic underlings." --Irish Independent

About the Author

Jeremy Massey is a second-generation undertaker who worked with his father for many years at the family firm in Dublin. A screenwriter by training, Massey has lived in New York and Los Angeles. He currently lives with his wife and three children in Australia, where he teaches writing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hudson Street Press (an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc)
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1594634858
• ISBN 13: 9781594634857
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292