Page Updated: 22/10/98
Hugo Hamilton
sadbastardp.jpg
About the Author
Bibliography
Sad BastardSad Bastard Newpbk 04 Sep 98
Headbanger


New British Pbk Original - Secker & Warburg (1998)
Sad Bastard
See Review by Bob Cornwell
Dublin Garda Pat Coyne, the damaged idealist of Headbanger, is recovering from a traumatic event in the course of his duty which has left him in deep shock. Coyne is undergoing counselling, unable to return to work. His mother-in-law prays for him. His wife Carmel tries to heal him. She's out there healing people who are not even ill in the first place, and with the most bizarre techniques. But Coyne is a reluctant patient. Unable to keep pace with the new Ireland, he has become a man with a truth fixation who forgets to eat and calls Carmel in the middle of the night for food aid. While his son Jimmy places the family in danger, Coyne has his self-appointed mission to rescue a young woman who draws him into dangerous territory where he feels he has discovered the perfect crime. A powerful portrayal of a changing nation, Sad Bastard confirms Hugo Hamilton as one of Ireland's most innovative writers.
Sad Bastard is the sequel to the highly acclaimed Headbanger, which is about to be made into a film.
'The long wait for this most talented novelist to cast his eye over his homeland has been worth if' GQ
'Coyne is a majestic creation' The Times
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Headbanger
Crime is Ireland's biggest growth industry. Pat Coyne is the cop who is going to sort the place out - and he'll leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of Drummer Cunningham, the notorious crime king of Dublin.
'A terrific creation.' Guardian
'Exciting and blackly comic.' Irish Independent
'An exciting and blackly comic thriller, lobbing incendiaries at both the dark corners and sacred cows of modern Ireland… Read it now before it comes to a cinema near you' Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent
'Coyne is the most unusual character in Irish fiction for some time: larger than life, a bit of a mess at one level, but a great original. a true flesh and blood man living out his spell of not-so-quiet desperation with terrible conviction' Ronan Farren, Sunday Independent
'Coyne is a majestic creation...through an accretion of one-liners and humorous set-pieces he sketches a morally ambivalent world which is immensely compelling and engaging...If Flann O'Brien's lunatic Professor De Selby had genetically engineered a cross between the novels -of Raymond Chandler and those of Patrick McCabe, this is what the progeny might well have looked like' Antonia Logue. The Times
'A subtle portrait of a nation undergoing rapid change' Nicholas Wroe, GQ
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About The Author
Hugo Hamilton was born in 1953 of Irish-German parentage. He was brought up with three languages: Irish, English and German. In addition to the Pat Coyne series, he has published three highly acclaimed novels set in Germany, and a collection of short stories, (Dublin Where the Palm Trees Grow). He has recently spent time as writer in residence in Bucharest. He lives and works in Dublin.

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Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

  • Sad Bastard (Secker & Warburg Pbk, 1998) New Pbk Sep 98 (Pat Coyne)
  • Dublin Where The Palm Trees Grow
  • Headbanger (Secker & Warburg) Vintage Pbk Mar 98 (Pat Coyne)
  • Surrogate City
  • The Last Shot
  • The Love Test

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