Hack by
John Burns
pbk out July 98
(Pan)
at £5.99
Hack by John Burns is one of the most entertaining books I've read in ages. The cynical voice of Max is sustained so convincingly that you get the uneasy feeling that, far from exaggerating the amorality of tabloid journalists, Burns has toned down their behaviour and practices to a more palatable level of sleaziness. Not that I found Max repugnant - he has his own somewhat shaky moral code - and anyway how can you hate somebody who makes you laugh? Max did, and often. John Burns has created a terrific character in the mould of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr, only much, much funnier.
(
Margaret Murphy
- author of Desire of the Moth & mistress of the psychological suspence novel)
Hack by
John Burns