Divorcing Jack - 1st US Edition/1st Printing

Bateman, Colin

ISBN 10: 1559703105 / ISBN 13: 9781559703109

Published by Arcade Publishing, New York, 1995

About this Item

An eyecatching first American edition/first printing in Near Fine condition in alike dust-jacket; Winner of the Betsy Trask Prize for Fiction. Author's debut novel; 8vo; FSA. Seller Inventory # 32059

Bibliographic Details

Title: Divorcing Jack - 1st US Edition/1st Printing

Publisher: Arcade Publishing, New York

Publication Date: 1995

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Edition: 1st US Edition; First Printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

An adulterous fling with a anonymous woman who is soon found murdered plunges Belfast journalist Dan Starkey into the district's violent politics, as his search for the woman's killer leads him into the highest reaches of power. A first novel.

Review:

In Colin Bateman's first novel, Divorcing Jack, a witty Belfast newspaper columnist named Dan Starkey gets drunk, falls in lust, and finds himself helplessly mired in trouble with his wife and the law. Shortly after Starkey's wife catches him in the arms of another woman, that woman is murdered and Starkey becomes the prime suspect. It turns out that the deceased woman was related to an important political figure, and now thugs from several of Northern Ireland's factions are out to get Starkey. The columnist decides he must track down the killer in order to clear his own name. During the investigation, he uncovers a scandal that could potentially alter the outcome of the next national election--and destroy the country's hopes for peace.

Mostly though, this thriller chronicles the beleaguered journalist's lame efforts to stay out of trouble. Starkey isn't exactly a man of action; in fact, he's a likeable character partly because he knows he's a weak man. Late in the book, Starkey sums up his predicament: "The world was still after me, Patricia was still missing, I was still a killer on the run, and I had a disturbing tendency to burst into tears, but I wasn't going to let little things like that get me down." He copes with stress by 1) drinking too much and 2) making jokes. When a nun in a miniature car saves Starkey from a hail of gunfire, for instance, he spends a few moments wondering what the proper name of her headgear is and decides to call it a Godpiece. Dan Starkey makes an entertaining guide to war-torn Northern Ireland, even while he discovers, time and again, that the pen is not mightier than the sword. --Jill Marquis