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Bombe surprise
« La porte s'ouvrit lentement et un homme en blouse blanche entra, éclairé par une faible lumière venue du couloir, qui laissait son visage dans l'ombre. L'homme porta son index à ses lèvres. - Chut ! ordonna-t-il. Alors, on se sent mieux ? - Je ne suis pas fou, je suis policier, j'appartiens aux services spéciaux. Je lutte contre un complot fasciste ! Mes supérieurs ont tous perdu la tête, ou bien ce sont des traîtres... - Oui, je vois, paranoïa aigüe. »
« Le ton général de l'ouvrage est léger, humoristique, pince-sans-rire, mais ne perd jamais ni de sa virulence ni de sa causticité. Robin Cook y brocarde les tentations fascistes de factions de l'époque (le livre a été écrit en 1966). Les éclosions du National Front et de son homologue français, quelques années plus tard, vont rendre moins
« Le ton général de l'ouvrage est léger, humoristique, pince-sans-rire, mais ne perd jamais ni de sa virulence ni de sa causticité. Robin Cook y brocarde les tentations fascistes de factions de l'époque (le livre a été écrit en 1966). Les éclosions du National Front et de son homologue français, quelques années plus tard, vont rendre moins
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
32 people want to read
About the author
Robin Cook
10 books5 followersThis is one of two pseudonyms used by Robert William Arthur Cook. The other pseudonym is Derek Raymond. The books written as Robin Cook were reprinted in 1990s as by Derek Raymond.
This Robin Cook should not be confused with Robin Cook, the author of Coma.
This Robin Cook should not be confused with Robin Cook, the author of Coma.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 29, 2018
Derek Raymond is best known for his five noir crime Factory Novels series written in the 1980s, however before writing those novels, and around two decades earlier, he’d written as Robin Cook, his birth name, in the 1960s, before having to leave the UK for mainland Europe for a protracted period. This relocation reputedly linked to his criminal activities during that era.
Derek Raymond was born Robert William Arthur “Robin” Cook in 1931 and he died in London in 1994. He was the son of a textile magnate who dropped out of Eton, the famously expensive and elitist British public school, aged 16, and turned his back on his privileged background. After a period travelling and living in the US and Spain, he returned home to London and was variously employed as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver, who preferred to associate with criminals and con men.
Robin Cook apparently began his literary career writing pornography, but soon turned his attention to a series of darkly comic novels loosely based on his own experiences. 'The Crust on Its Uppers' (1962), was his first published work. Involved in various petty schemes, from counterfeiting to fencing stolen goods, our nameless narrator presents a colourful tale of criminality meeting aristocrats which presciently presages the collision between gangsters, pop stars and toffs which, in part, came to characterise Swinging London a few years later.
Bombe Surprise was Robin Cook's second novel, published in 1963, and it's a satire about an authoritarian fascist political party, Britain Strong Britain Free. It's mile a minute stuff, wholly implausible, sporadically amusing, and increasingly incoherent. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than Derek Raymond/Robin Cook completists.
3/5
Portrait of the artist as proto-Modernist
Derek Raymond was born Robert William Arthur “Robin” Cook in 1931 and he died in London in 1994. He was the son of a textile magnate who dropped out of Eton, the famously expensive and elitist British public school, aged 16, and turned his back on his privileged background. After a period travelling and living in the US and Spain, he returned home to London and was variously employed as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver, who preferred to associate with criminals and con men.
Robin Cook apparently began his literary career writing pornography, but soon turned his attention to a series of darkly comic novels loosely based on his own experiences. 'The Crust on Its Uppers' (1962), was his first published work. Involved in various petty schemes, from counterfeiting to fencing stolen goods, our nameless narrator presents a colourful tale of criminality meeting aristocrats which presciently presages the collision between gangsters, pop stars and toffs which, in part, came to characterise Swinging London a few years later.
Bombe Surprise was Robin Cook's second novel, published in 1963, and it's a satire about an authoritarian fascist political party, Britain Strong Britain Free. It's mile a minute stuff, wholly implausible, sporadically amusing, and increasingly incoherent. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone other than Derek Raymond/Robin Cook completists.
3/5
Portrait of the artist as proto-Modernist
August 25, 2021
Robin Cook lived an extraordinary life. He went to Eton but tired of that &, as he put it, 'had the down escalator to myself all my life'. He consorted with criminals, at first minor but was soon associated with people who were, themselves, associated with the Krays. In the 70s & 80s he used this experience to write his astonishingly violent & disturbing, macabre, noir 'Factory' novels under the pen-name Derek Raymond.
In the 60s, however, he used the experience to write comic capers about pubic school posh boys falling into crime. Bombe Surprise follows 'The Crust on its Uppers' & tells of one such posh boy who, in Wandsworth, meets a good chap who is planning to bring off a fascist coup. Bombe Surprise tells the story at an extremely brisk pace. The large cast of characters are introduced &, often, dispatched, summarily & the whole thing rattles along to a happy ending in 165 pages. This book can easily be read in a morning.
Is it worth reading? Yes & no. No-one could say this is a good book. The bits that involve the seedy journalists & angry editors who follow the rise of the movement are not as funny as Cook thinks they are & invite all too obvious comparison to Scoop. Such comparison must, of course, be entirely to Cook's disadvantage. There are other parts, eg a scene in a Soho drinking-club, presumably based on 'The Colony Rooms' that are badly written & desperately needed editing. To believe the plot one must not only suspend belief but, TBH, hang & flog it.
It is enjoyable for all that & parts of it are fascinating. It really shines a light into how people were thinking in the early 60s. It also paints a horribly real portrayal of some of the worst of human nature & how they can thrive in such a far-right atmosphere, particularly the evil racist Durrell, the malign Krokker, & the psychotic Crisso.
In parts it is also very funny & it reminds us of how Londoners used to speak. Especially, I guess, how they spoke when Yiddish was more commonly spoke. I doubt anyone now says 'go on, Moisher off' & I'm sure they don't describe an idiot as a 'long alockshun'.
I think its worth reading ut don't expect genius.
In the 60s, however, he used the experience to write comic capers about pubic school posh boys falling into crime. Bombe Surprise follows 'The Crust on its Uppers' & tells of one such posh boy who, in Wandsworth, meets a good chap who is planning to bring off a fascist coup. Bombe Surprise tells the story at an extremely brisk pace. The large cast of characters are introduced &, often, dispatched, summarily & the whole thing rattles along to a happy ending in 165 pages. This book can easily be read in a morning.
Is it worth reading? Yes & no. No-one could say this is a good book. The bits that involve the seedy journalists & angry editors who follow the rise of the movement are not as funny as Cook thinks they are & invite all too obvious comparison to Scoop. Such comparison must, of course, be entirely to Cook's disadvantage. There are other parts, eg a scene in a Soho drinking-club, presumably based on 'The Colony Rooms' that are badly written & desperately needed editing. To believe the plot one must not only suspend belief but, TBH, hang & flog it.
It is enjoyable for all that & parts of it are fascinating. It really shines a light into how people were thinking in the early 60s. It also paints a horribly real portrayal of some of the worst of human nature & how they can thrive in such a far-right atmosphere, particularly the evil racist Durrell, the malign Krokker, & the psychotic Crisso.
In parts it is also very funny & it reminds us of how Londoners used to speak. Especially, I guess, how they spoke when Yiddish was more commonly spoke. I doubt anyone now says 'go on, Moisher off' & I'm sure they don't describe an idiot as a 'long alockshun'.
I think its worth reading ut don't expect genius.
March 28, 2013
VG political satire, fascist Britain. His 2nd novel. This copy released as by Derek Raymond
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews