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Robin Llywelyn Trilogy #2
Swansea Terminal
“Bukowski’s Pulp gone West Country.”—Uncut
Alcoholic private eye Robin Llewellyn is homeless in Swansea, another hobo intent on drinking himself into an early grave. But Robin is the perfect patsy, and soon local gangsters have found him a job—one only a chronic alcoholic with nothing to lose would take.
Dark, funny, and oddly poignant, this is new British crime fiction at its very finest.
Alcoholic private eye Robin Llewellyn is homeless in Swansea, another hobo intent on drinking himself into an early grave. But Robin is the perfect patsy, and soon local gangsters have found him a job—one only a chronic alcoholic with nothing to lose would take.
Dark, funny, and oddly poignant, this is new British crime fiction at its very finest.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Robert Lewis
5 booksRobert Lewis is from the Black Mountains, in the Brecon Beacons. He has been a silver service waiter, painter, barman, secretary, bookkeeper, salesman, banker, shop assistant, web editor, yardcat, helpdesk staffer, storesman, high-voltage cabler, data-entry clerk, housing officer, mailboy, audit junior, welders assistant, betting shop counterman, and unemployed.
He is a graduate of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. THE LAST LLANELLI TRAIN, his first novel, was nominated for the 2006 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. His second and third novels, SWANSEA TERMINAL and BANK OF THE BLACK SHEEP, were published by Serpent’s Tail. Robert is also the author of DARK ACTORS, a non-fiction book about the life and times of Dr David Kelly, the government advisor on biological weapons, published by Simon & Schuster in July 2013.
‘Frankly, a betting slip written by Lewis would be worth reading.’ Sunday Express
‘Without doubt, a writer of immense promise.’ — New Welsh Review
He is a graduate of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. THE LAST LLANELLI TRAIN, his first novel, was nominated for the 2006 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. His second and third novels, SWANSEA TERMINAL and BANK OF THE BLACK SHEEP, were published by Serpent’s Tail. Robert is also the author of DARK ACTORS, a non-fiction book about the life and times of Dr David Kelly, the government advisor on biological weapons, published by Simon & Schuster in July 2013.
‘Frankly, a betting slip written by Lewis would be worth reading.’ Sunday Express
‘Without doubt, a writer of immense promise.’ — New Welsh Review
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 2, 2011
An absolute treat, just like the previous book about this character. He is now living rough in Swansea among the various low-lifes of that city, and just as 'The Last Llanelli Train' did for Bristol, this book introduces the reader to just about every drinking joint in the place, a bit like a 'Rougher than Rough Guide'.
Many newspaper reviews I have read have described narrator Robin Llywellyn as 'unlikeable', which surprises me - I quite liked him. Not short of intelligence, and possessed of a sardonic opinion on everything from cockles to Roy Keane, I found his sarcastic humour hit a perfect note. He is not self-pitying, and knows that it is his addiction to alcohol that has landed him on the streets and got him barred from Tesco. It's an absolute mystery to me that this series of books is not more widely available in bookstores, and that Robert Lewis is not a better known name in literature. He is surely one of the best and wittiest new writers to come on the scene in years, and no I'm not a member of his publicity team. Great book!
Many newspaper reviews I have read have described narrator Robin Llywellyn as 'unlikeable', which surprises me - I quite liked him. Not short of intelligence, and possessed of a sardonic opinion on everything from cockles to Roy Keane, I found his sarcastic humour hit a perfect note. He is not self-pitying, and knows that it is his addiction to alcohol that has landed him on the streets and got him barred from Tesco. It's an absolute mystery to me that this series of books is not more widely available in bookstores, and that Robert Lewis is not a better known name in literature. He is surely one of the best and wittiest new writers to come on the scene in years, and no I'm not a member of his publicity team. Great book!
October 10, 2008
Having previously finished Cardiff Dead, there is a certain symmetry in reading this book.
This is a slow paced "crime" novel, telling the story of a former Private Detective, Robin Llewelyn, on his return to Swansea after a 25 year absence. Swansea is described in this book as it was in Twin Town as a "pretty shitty city".
Llewleyn is also an alcoholic. He is hired by mentally ill woman to track down the object of her fixation and more or less blows the cash he is paid on an endless pub crawl. This is until he runs fowl of the womans brothers, gets involved in a dodgy import business which involves him guarding a warehouse of booze before ripping everyone off.
Plenty of black humour and excellent observations on professional people, pubs and the people that inhabit them. Not a lot of crime and in terms of a story, there is little action to drive it forward.
This is a slow paced "crime" novel, telling the story of a former Private Detective, Robin Llewelyn, on his return to Swansea after a 25 year absence. Swansea is described in this book as it was in Twin Town as a "pretty shitty city".
Llewleyn is also an alcoholic. He is hired by mentally ill woman to track down the object of her fixation and more or less blows the cash he is paid on an endless pub crawl. This is until he runs fowl of the womans brothers, gets involved in a dodgy import business which involves him guarding a warehouse of booze before ripping everyone off.
Plenty of black humour and excellent observations on professional people, pubs and the people that inhabit them. Not a lot of crime and in terms of a story, there is little action to drive it forward.
July 12, 2014
Bleak and relentlessly hopeless. A dying drunk tries to make things right before he dies, and sort of does (make things right, that is). At least he makes the effort, which, given the amount of abuse he receives from lowlifes happy to have someone lower than themselves on which to vent, is the only light of hope. The Swansea Tourist Board must have issued a fatwa on Mr. Lewis once this hate letter was published.
June 16, 2014
More beautifully written doom and gloom. I began reading this trilogy because I thought it was a series of private eye novels set in Bristol. It is, in the same sense that Lord of the Rings is aa book about pipe-smoking in the Shire...
May 1, 2009
For fiction, this went slow for me and dodn't grab me quickly the way many books do. Something kept me reading though, and I am glad I stuck around because I really liked the ending.
January 5, 2012
Robert Lewis's books should not be out of print. Read them.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews