antichaos - edition by Donald McDonald. Literature & Fiction eBooks @ .
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A comic tale of crime and detectives written espcially for the trout fisher sof the Kilpatrick Hills
antichaos - edition by Donald McDonald. Literature & Fiction eBooks @ .
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antichaos - edition by Donald McDonald. Literature & Fiction eBooks @ . Reviews
Antichaos by Donald MacDonald.
A QUIRKY new book from Shetland resident Donald MacDonald, the novel follows the exploits of a desperate 30-year-old who has mortgaged himself to the hilt and is suffering from an early mid-life crisis and financial disaster as a result.
In a desperate bid to raise funds he robs a bookies while dressed as a haddock (something that makes perfect sense in the book's context) and in the process discharges his Luger pistol, setting off a chain of events that can only be likened to chaos theory.
There is great humour in the novel, and a real warmth as well which is nice to see when so many Scottish books are embedded in "Tartan noir". The author has a real love for language and likes to toy with words, giving the book an offbeat but easy to read style that reminded me of the Jeff Torrington novel Swing Hammer, Swing!
But the novel's real strength lies in its superb characterisation, the narrator himself a man on edge, the brilliant Basil Billings PI, who suffers from a touch of multiple personality disorder and is apt to either name every flower in a field or sucker punch a gangster when suffering a turn.
The rest of the cast include the motley crew of hill fishers who live to fish; Charlie Kalahari, herbal specialist; the gangsters themselves; and the occasional group of disgruntled bus conductors.
The Scottish countryside could well be considered another character and is lovingly described by someone who has obviously spent plenty of time hiking with a fishing rod over his shoulder.
The fishing itself also plays a big part; but funnily I wanted to hear more about it. MacDonald takes us lovingly through various types of freshwater fishing but then shies away from describing the actual catch in as much detail as the theory, but that's a minor quibble in a book that is this much fun.
Something else that features is the occasional bit of physics, with quarks, chaos and a particularly amusing description of the big bang. This adds to the book's quirkiness (or should that be "quarkiness"?) and is yet another element in a book already packed with ideas.
At times Antichaos can seem overrun with ideas, and occasionally can lose a bit of focus as a result. This made me worry that the author wouldn't be able to pull off a satisfactory ending, something that's difficult, and yet vital, in a novel that has so many strands to tie up.
I needn't have worried; MacDonald skilfully weaves everything inward and puts together an extremely good finale, managing to incorporate all of the action, humour and charm that made the rest of the book a pleasure to read.
Overall this is a good, funny and stylish first novel, and one which I would heartily recommend as a stocking filler for this Christmas.
Antichaos is available as a paperback or download from [...]
Matthew Wright
This book is probably not suited to the modern, impatient, American reader, who expects action, action, action. Instead this is a book with a great deal of charm, some fun, and some surprising depth. It's a funny little tale, told sweetly in the vernacular of its location, while throwing in social consequence and scientific phliosophy in a most deft and understated way.
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