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Pop Goes the Weasel #2
Rat Bastard
Sequel to Pop Goes the Weasel Patrick “Weasel” Weasley is worried he’s not spending enough time with his new boyfriend Tony, now that they are living and working in different towns. He decides the best way to cement the relationship is to buy Tony a ring for Christmas. Unfortunately, Weasel's evil stepfather--a rat bastard if ever there was one--has cut him off without a cent, and he is left with no other choice. He must (gasp!) get a job! Weasel wouldn't mind working at the Phantom Lady Inn if it wasn't for Tony's ex-boyfriend Gates Stumpenhorst, who wants to beat the stuffing out of him, or Cicely Talbot, a writer who believes she can prove to Weasel that he's not really gay. As if that wasn’t enough, the deputy sheriff thinks Weasel is the local arsonist. Adding to their troubles is a rumored Phantom Lady haunting the inn and pilfering trinkets. With all this going on, Weasel might not live to survive Christmas, much less find time to go on a date with Tony!
200 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 9, 2014
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 26, 2014
I think I may have said this this at some time or other already, but I love Stephen Osborne's books. I love the way he writes. I love the silly situations he gets his characters into. I love the funny little one-liners he comes up with. (Suitcase full of bowling balls springs to mind.) I'm not sure, but I think maybe Rat Bastard is my new favorite of his. As far as I'm concerned there isn't enough comedy in this genre. But with Osborne you can pretty much bet the farm you'll be getting some much needed chuckles, and that's okay with me. It's hard writing comedy, but this guy does it extremely well. Five stars.
October 17, 2020
I've finished it, Noooooooooooo 
OK I admit, I was a teensy weeny bit apprehensive to read this book. After not only falling in love with Weasel in book one, I was completely captured by the humour, so yeah often sequels don't live up to expectations. Boy am I happy to report this lived up to all my hopes and dreams.
Weasel again is just a series of accidents waiting to happen, and happen they did. Poor Weasel really can't catch a break in this non stop roller-coaster ride of laughs and just a teeny tiny mystery lol.
The cast is back in full swing, from the odious step monster to Cicely, the girl that never gives up. Caps is around and of course the wonderful Tony is here to make everything better for poor Weasel.
We also get a few new characters. The forgetful uncle that I soooooo want to work for lol. And the suspicious Sheriff always in the wrong place at the right time lol. Plus we get the evil villain Gates, he of course is just the guy we want to see Weasel put in his place, verbally if not physically.
Overall this was as delightfully funny as book one, a pure pleasure to read when you just want to kick back and lose yourself in the mis-adventures of one Patrick Carrington Weasely.
Please please please tell me we will meet up with Weasel again soon, pretty please.
ETA Still funny, still love Weasel, still living in hope that there will be another book one day
OK I admit, I was a teensy weeny bit apprehensive to read this book. After not only falling in love with Weasel in book one, I was completely captured by the humour, so yeah often sequels don't live up to expectations. Boy am I happy to report this lived up to all my hopes and dreams.
Weasel again is just a series of accidents waiting to happen, and happen they did. Poor Weasel really can't catch a break in this non stop roller-coaster ride of laughs and just a teeny tiny mystery lol.
The cast is back in full swing, from the odious step monster to Cicely, the girl that never gives up. Caps is around and of course the wonderful Tony is here to make everything better for poor Weasel.
We also get a few new characters. The forgetful uncle that I soooooo want to work for lol. And the suspicious Sheriff always in the wrong place at the right time lol. Plus we get the evil villain Gates, he of course is just the guy we want to see Weasel put in his place, verbally if not physically.
Overall this was as delightfully funny as book one, a pure pleasure to read when you just want to kick back and lose yourself in the mis-adventures of one Patrick Carrington Weasely.
Please please please tell me we will meet up with Weasel again soon, pretty please.
ETA Still funny, still love Weasel, still living in hope that there will be another book one day
March 10, 2014
2.5 stars
When I first read the story of Weasel in Pop Goes the Weasel a couple of years ago, I was quite amused by it. I thought it was an entertaining comedy of errors story with all the mischief and mayhem that Weasel got himself into.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me this time. Maybe it was the wrong kind of mood that I had when I was reading this – but I did feel that the story felt a little too hard. It seemed that Weasel was trying to be funny in every single scene or every single paragraph. From his internal monologues, his descriptions of people or situations around him, his way of talking with other people … and it didn’t feel slightly funny to me. In fact, I thought Weasel was acting like such a brat in one way or another. Including the way he tried to get out from under his step-father’s thumb.
I was annoyed with this story and not at all amused. I was annoyed with Weasel who thought that working with so much free time to read his Kindle was the perfect job for him (which of course made him a lazy kid), I was annoyed with Weasel always referring to his stepfather as step-monster, I was annoyed with how the stalker-girl and Tony’s ex were portrayed (so cliché), I was annoyed with Weasel’s mother … the whole comedic / slapstick angle introduced in this story just didn’t work for me this time.
I know that humor can be very a subjective matter. So maybe with this type of humor, it only works for me one time rather than for a whole series. I still like Stephen Osborne’s stories but this one, safe to say, is a series of his that I prefer not to follow.
The ARC is provided by the publisher for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
When I first read the story of Weasel in Pop Goes the Weasel a couple of years ago, I was quite amused by it. I thought it was an entertaining comedy of errors story with all the mischief and mayhem that Weasel got himself into.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work for me this time. Maybe it was the wrong kind of mood that I had when I was reading this – but I did feel that the story felt a little too hard. It seemed that Weasel was trying to be funny in every single scene or every single paragraph. From his internal monologues, his descriptions of people or situations around him, his way of talking with other people … and it didn’t feel slightly funny to me. In fact, I thought Weasel was acting like such a brat in one way or another. Including the way he tried to get out from under his step-father’s thumb.
I was annoyed with this story and not at all amused. I was annoyed with Weasel who thought that working with so much free time to read his Kindle was the perfect job for him (which of course made him a lazy kid), I was annoyed with Weasel always referring to his stepfather as step-monster, I was annoyed with how the stalker-girl and Tony’s ex were portrayed (so cliché), I was annoyed with Weasel’s mother … the whole comedic / slapstick angle introduced in this story just didn’t work for me this time.
I know that humor can be very a subjective matter. So maybe with this type of humor, it only works for me one time rather than for a whole series. I still like Stephen Osborne’s stories but this one, safe to say, is a series of his that I prefer not to follow.
The ARC is provided by the publisher for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
July 31, 2014
2.5 stars
I’ve been a fan of this author’s other series, the Duncan Andrews Thriller. What worked for me in all of those books seems to have had a similar formula but the dial has gone towards too much of everything.
The main character, Weasel, is extremely unlikable to me, and the whole book read as if some spoiled, lazy brat was talking to me about the people in his life, what he thought of them, and why things weren’t fair. He’s got a very frenetic air to him, and the kid rambles and switches topics and thoughts like a buzzing bug around you. I think if readers like Tj Klune’s main characters then they might really like Weasel and this series. Even the humor. This author is funny and like I said, his other series cracks me up, but all of the humor in this felt slapstick and forced, and because it was so frantic it was hard letting some jokes settle in and be appreciated because Weasel continuously threw out verbal jabs left and right.
As for the conflict, it was a bit jumbled and really this is all about Weasel and his supposedly endearing self landing in one weird situation after the other. There’s his stepfather that he hates, his new boyfriend Tony, his friend Jake, the girl that’s after him Cicely, etc. and his experiences at his new job. But everyone felt like caricatures and rather than amuse me, I just found it all tedious.
But, again, I’d hate to dissuade readers from checking this author out and even this series. He’s talented, and this kind of humor might be exactly what you love. I’d read the sample and see if it’s for you, but for me, I’m going to call it quits with this series, and stick to the Duncan Andrews Thriller books.
I’ve been a fan of this author’s other series, the Duncan Andrews Thriller. What worked for me in all of those books seems to have had a similar formula but the dial has gone towards too much of everything.
The main character, Weasel, is extremely unlikable to me, and the whole book read as if some spoiled, lazy brat was talking to me about the people in his life, what he thought of them, and why things weren’t fair. He’s got a very frenetic air to him, and the kid rambles and switches topics and thoughts like a buzzing bug around you. I think if readers like Tj Klune’s main characters then they might really like Weasel and this series. Even the humor. This author is funny and like I said, his other series cracks me up, but all of the humor in this felt slapstick and forced, and because it was so frantic it was hard letting some jokes settle in and be appreciated because Weasel continuously threw out verbal jabs left and right.
As for the conflict, it was a bit jumbled and really this is all about Weasel and his supposedly endearing self landing in one weird situation after the other. There’s his stepfather that he hates, his new boyfriend Tony, his friend Jake, the girl that’s after him Cicely, etc. and his experiences at his new job. But everyone felt like caricatures and rather than amuse me, I just found it all tedious.
But, again, I’d hate to dissuade readers from checking this author out and even this series. He’s talented, and this kind of humor might be exactly what you love. I’d read the sample and see if it’s for you, but for me, I’m going to call it quits with this series, and stick to the Duncan Andrews Thriller books.
May 27, 2014
I enjoyed this one even more than the first book. The more I read about Weasel the more I love him. Hopefully this is not the end of his story!
April 15, 2014
2.5 stars. Some funny moments but it was a little long winded in places.
September 24, 2015
Fun! Less of a Sherlock Holmes and more of a Jeeves and Wooster.
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March 23, 2017Chapter 1 has already raised my blood pressure, so I'm not going to continue. I know Weasel was an irresponsible brat, but I couldn't accept that fucking stepmonster ruling his life. If it's his SINGLE mother doing all that, then it's still acceptable because she's his mom, but him? Anyway, I also couldn't stand the mother, that useless woman who couldn't think for herself or her son. *sighs* If only the mother could be like Adrien's caring, smart, and classy mother....
August 19, 2018
3.5 Stars
June 15, 2014
Rat Bastard by Stephen Osborne
Four stars
Rat Bastard is the sequel to Stephen Osborne’s whimsical farce Pop Goes the Weasel. I gave that book three stars (which for me is “good”), largely because I didn’t like the main character Patrick Carrington Weasley, known to his friends as Weasel. I said at the end of that review that Weasel was showing signs of improvement and that I had hopes for book two.
And my hopes were well founded.
Weasel is a college boy, a trust-fund baby who has partied and slept his way through college (and out of more than one, it seems). He is annoying as hell, and represents the kind of flighty twink that pissed me off completely when I was coming out in college (a million years ago).
In Rat Bastard, Weasel is still vain, self-centered and thoughtless—but love seems to have begun to make a better man of him. The romance begun with the adorable Tony in the course of the first book has begun to take root in Weasel’s heart. Weasel has knuckled down to his studies, has stopped his wild party-boy ways, and seems to be anxious to move forward in his embryonic relationship with his young man.
But circumstances keep getting in the way. Not the least of these hurdles is Stepmonster, his mother’s nasty, selfish and homophobic second husband. Seems that stepdad is determined to eradicate Weasel’s queerness by threatening to cut him off financially and marry him off to a crazed authoress named Cecily. What’s a tall willowy blond boy to do?
I have to admit the plot is sort of 1980s—does anyone try to do this in the 21st century?
Then again, who tries to scrutinize the logic of a romantic farce?
The point being that Weasel is a much more likable guy in this book, and it was easy to sympathize with him in spite of his fecklessness and to love him for his tendency to act without thinking. The novel is full of comic moments, vaguely plausible coincidences and laugh-out-loud absurdity. Osborne is a deft, articulate writer (oh, lord, the joy of someone who can get grammar correct—and Weasel is very articulate, which annoys others in the book, but engaged me).
I had a lot of fun with this, and am very pleased that Weasel has begun to grow up.
Four stars
Rat Bastard is the sequel to Stephen Osborne’s whimsical farce Pop Goes the Weasel. I gave that book three stars (which for me is “good”), largely because I didn’t like the main character Patrick Carrington Weasley, known to his friends as Weasel. I said at the end of that review that Weasel was showing signs of improvement and that I had hopes for book two.
And my hopes were well founded.
Weasel is a college boy, a trust-fund baby who has partied and slept his way through college (and out of more than one, it seems). He is annoying as hell, and represents the kind of flighty twink that pissed me off completely when I was coming out in college (a million years ago).
In Rat Bastard, Weasel is still vain, self-centered and thoughtless—but love seems to have begun to make a better man of him. The romance begun with the adorable Tony in the course of the first book has begun to take root in Weasel’s heart. Weasel has knuckled down to his studies, has stopped his wild party-boy ways, and seems to be anxious to move forward in his embryonic relationship with his young man.
But circumstances keep getting in the way. Not the least of these hurdles is Stepmonster, his mother’s nasty, selfish and homophobic second husband. Seems that stepdad is determined to eradicate Weasel’s queerness by threatening to cut him off financially and marry him off to a crazed authoress named Cecily. What’s a tall willowy blond boy to do?
I have to admit the plot is sort of 1980s—does anyone try to do this in the 21st century?
Then again, who tries to scrutinize the logic of a romantic farce?
The point being that Weasel is a much more likable guy in this book, and it was easy to sympathize with him in spite of his fecklessness and to love him for his tendency to act without thinking. The novel is full of comic moments, vaguely plausible coincidences and laugh-out-loud absurdity. Osborne is a deft, articulate writer (oh, lord, the joy of someone who can get grammar correct—and Weasel is very articulate, which annoys others in the book, but engaged me).
I had a lot of fun with this, and am very pleased that Weasel has begun to grow up.
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August 19, 2014This book was reviewed by Love Bytes Reviews!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews