One Fine Day In the Middle of the Night

by Christopher Brookmyre

Gavin's idea for a unique holiday experience involves a disused North Sea oil platform and facilities that would take your breath away. He invites old school chums along to test it but unfortunately a group of terrorists come along too.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Humor, Thriller, Mystery, Scotland, Comedy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels mix politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning, and subsequent works have included One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, which he said "was just the sort of book he needed to write before he turned 30", and All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005). Brookmyre also writes historical fiction with Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym "Ambrose Parry."

Reviews

[Purple · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh good lord this is good.

Sometimes I want to write a book. Then I read one of Christopher Brookmyre's and I just think "No, leave it to him - he knows exactly what he's doing and I don't."

There really isn't anything as enjoyable as reading one of his hostage books (see also Be My Enemy). You'll wonder how you got by without it before.

No, I don't own a copy of this book I'd be willing to sell/swap. It's mine, get your own.

Seriously, go and get it. Now.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so biting the bullet on my next couple of reviews because I’m behind and don’t want to get even further behind by being paralyzed about what to say.

Bottom line about One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night: super fun spoof of action films in book form. Great characters even though they could have been flimsy. Very funny. Features dialogue written in the Scottish dialect, which I thought was really fun (but then again, I never seem to have a problem interpreting accents in books or movies). Never read anything like it before. Really wish it was a movie.

There, that’s the gist of my thoughts.

I actually received my copy of this as part of the first annual Cannonball Read Book exchange a couple of Christmases ago. And my book came to me all the way from Austria! I’ve felt bad that I couldn’t get to it before now, and I’m glad that I enjoyed it when I did. The story of a class reunion happening on a decked out oil rig was the absolute perfect setting. Having not one, but two characters who became famous (or infamous) come back to the reunion as a sort of self-evaluation was really satisfying. The twists were fun. The character who was obsessed with action movies was useful and delightful. The book satisfied my need for tropes to be fulfilled, and yet also surprised me by turning some on their heads and poking fun at them. It’s very Scottish, also.

If you can stomach violence and swearing, you should definitely check this book out. It’s a quick read, and it’s really fun. I will definitely be reading more books by Christopher Brookmyre (and hopefully those books will get better reviews than this one did).

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an entertaining read in the end. There was plenty of blood and guts to appeal to my love of horror/thrillers, and plenty of dark Scottish humour. The plot was bananas, and I didn't think it would work at times but surprisingly it all came together in the end. I did feel like it took ages to get going though, as there was so much focus on individual character introductions for the first good chunk of the novel. I also didn't feel like some characters' storyline were as interesting as others, and certain characters I'd have preferred to see more from. The humour could be a tad awkward at times, more funny because it was Scottish than anything else, and I didn't laugh out loud as I'd hoped, maybe the odd chuckle here and there instead. But overall it was a fun read and maybe I'll check out some more of Christopher Brookmyre's stuff in the future.

[Wendle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night = Action films + Amateurs + School reunion.

This book is humour, plot, action, romance, gore and more humour in a perfect little parcel.

The references to action films throughout the book are the perfect accompaniment to the plot. The book is more realistic in its portrayal of ordinary people put in a Die Hard-esque situation (Ally McQuade vomiting on a bad guy from the air ducts), while simultaneously being more fantastical (Matt Black taking out a bad guy with a circular sander-cum-masonry saw).

Of course the return of Hector McGregor is a wonderful thing. If Ally McQuade isn't enough comic relief for you, McGregor will not disappoint (unless you're really fond of sheep).

This book is just really neat, in every meaning of the word.

[Malky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny as fuck and contains the phrase "exploding teuchtar".

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gavin is a holiday tour operator turned big spending resort developer who was invisible at school. Simone, his wife, has had enough of Gavin and his philandering and wants a divorce, although Gavin doesn't know that yet. Catherine is the PR agent for the oil-rig resort and for reasons that even she doesn't even seem to understand, Gavin's latest lover. Matt is a successful stand-up comedian turned wealthy but less successful celebrity due to his part in an American sitcom, and Davie is a violent nutcase turned family-man painter.

What they all have in common is that they all went to the same Glasgow high school, and Gavin, in an attempt to rub in his success, has arranged a large school reunion on his latest project - an oil-rig turned luxury resort. Unfortunately along with the reminiscing and rekindling of old relationships, there is also the unexpected arrival of terrorist hijackers armed with machine-guns, rocket-launchers and not a whole lot of planning.

Whilst the bulk of their schoolmates are held captive, it is up to Matt, Simone, Catherine and Davie to save the day. To do that they team up with the charming and slightly mysterious security consultant Tim Vale and Hector McGregor the hapless, one day into retirement, police officer who stumbles upon the scene in his tartan pyjamas, still a little bit miffed about the local police treating him like a suspect when he was knocked unconscious by a severed arm.

This is classic Christopher Brookmyre. Social commentary, incisive and razor sharp observations of human nature and behaviour, all wrapped up in a rollicking lunatic scenario that is so over the top you have to wonder if it really did happen. Definitely gory, definitely confrontational and definitely not to be missed.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a hoot! I listened to the unabridged recording read by Kenny Blyth (10 discs), which Goodreads should add to the editions list for this title. It's a fabulous performance, complete with truly authentic Scottish accents (and no silly high pitching of the voice for the female characters, thank you very much), of a hillarious action adventure book set in Scotland. The tone and unfolding convoluted, goofy plot that is well written was to me reminiscent of Westlake's "The Hot Rock" and books by Ross Thomas, although this one is both funnier and bloodier - yes, those go together in the same sentence... I don't know if author Brookmyre has made much of an impression, yet, in the U.S., but I would hope that the humor would translate to this side of the Atlantic. I mean, if you can't have fun with a high school reunion and mercenary terrorists, you're just not trying!

[Siobhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christopher Brookmyre is an author I’ve heard a lot of good things about, and I’ve been curious about his work for a long time. One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night sounded like a great read, but it failed to grab me.

This one was just too slow for me. It took far too long before the story finally got moving, and by that point my interest was very limited. Even when things started to move, it wasn’t enough for me to be sucked in deep. In fact, the more I read, the less hooked I was. It was slow going throughout, it tried too hard to be funny, and I just didn’t care about what was happening. I had hoped for the end to wow me, but I didn’t care by the end and just wanted it to be over with.

All in all, this failed to wow me. I’ll probably give the author another try in the future, but I doubt I’ll be doing so anytime soon.

[Brianne Haddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genuinely funny. Like if Die Hard was a Scottish comedy. I listened to it on audible and laughed out loud at points. I recommend!

[Jordan Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Yea it’s a quick easy read you’ll breeze through it.”
Leave it to Jamie Thompson to nonchalantly recommend me a book only for it to turn out to be one of the greatest things I’ve read.

This is astonishing. It goes without saying how hilarious it is but honestly this has some of the best character work I’ve ever read (Matt Black and Davie Murdoch being my favourites. The policeman McGregor was also so hilarious but really everyone’s so well written with a surprising amount of depth and personality). Not only that but there’s so many clever call backs and pay offs right down to the last line. Such a tight and tense plot holding it together as well with some more clever thematic stuff. A lot of resonant motifs to do with school days, nostalgia and letting go/ not letting go of the past. I could gush about this all day. Absolutely genius and I’ll certainly be checking out more of Brookymyre’s work ASAP.

Cheers Jamie

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Hard on an oil rig, with a school reunion instead of a Christmas party, but complete with terrorists, broken glass and bare feet and heroes liberating weapons from the bad guys.

A very tongue-in-cheek send up of the Die-Hard franchise (which I adore), and heaps and heaps of fun!

[Charlie Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the creative spirit Brookmyre puts into humorous crime fiction, but this is just too long, too many characters, too padded with unnecessary shite, as he'd put it. I will consider trying him again some day

[Agosto2010 fermare l'esecuzione di Ahmadreza Djala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humor nero scozzese, thriller serrato, scritto molto bene

[Jamie Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty average Christopher Brookmyre novel, but it’s been awhile since I’ve read one, so I enjoyed it more than I expected to. It has a great title, as usual.

Brookmyre tends to be full of righteous anger at the state of the world, and he spends as much time ranting as he does storytelling, but he nevertheless usually manages to be clever and hilarious and exciting. He produces characters to root for, and characters you love to hate, and the bad guys always get their comeuppance in the end.

As with many of his books, this is crude, gory, and violent in places. I wouldn’t tolerate this kind of thing from many other authors. Expect copious amounts of blood and shit and vomit, intended to add a gritty realism, but also meant to be darkly amusing.

His work is very Scottish, and much of the dialog is written in thick dialect, which I thoroughly enjoy. I can even understand most of it now.

The plot here is similar to that of Be My Enemy: a group of isolated civilians forced to defend themselves (bloodily - I did mention the preponderance of body fluids, didn’t I?) from a gang of armed, if rather inept, mercenaries. A fifteen-year school reunion is being held on an oil rig that has been converted into a luxury resort. The characters are distracted from their reminiscing and sober reevaluation of their lives by all the gunfire and panic.

Although it has serious moments, the book is largely a comedy and a lot of fun. I look forward to reading more of his work - the comic stuff, anyway. He seems to be writing more serious crime novels these days, and if they are similarly dark without the humor, I’m not sure I would like them.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've not read anything by Christopher Brookmyre before, this was my introduction to his writing. The synopsis sounded so interesting and a little different that I had to read it.
To be honest, I found it quite slow at first. A good half of the book is just introducing the characters which I found dragged a lot and I grew a little bored of it. Writing an accent is always a dicey proposition, as is using very specific slang, personally, and sometimes it read so relentlessly Scottish, like the author was trying to beat the reader over the head with 'this is set in Scotland, the characters are Scottish, remember they are Scottish, Scottish Scottish Scottish'. That got old for me very quickly.
All that said, once the story got going, it was actually quite enjoyable. I had guessed what was happening, it was a little too obvious what was going on and the truth behind it all, but it was well executed. There were some genuinely funny lines that had me laughing out loud, and I found I did like some of the characters more as the book went on, when at first I found none of them likeable which is unfortunate.
Overall I enjoyed the book. Was it what I was expecting? Not particularly, but that is more my fault than the book/author. It was slow at first, a little too slow, but once it got going I enjoyed it. I don't know if it's particularly encouraging me to read more of CB's work, but it certainly hasn't put me off

[Rachael Hewison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still continuing on my mission to read all of the Christopher Brookmyre books.

The last ones I read were the Angelique de Xavia series and because I loved those ones so much, it was hard to get into this one at first. There were so many characters to come to grips with and I got particularly confused with the bad guys. The setting on the oil rig also threw me out completely. I struggled to understand the lay out of all the hotels and underground bits and found that I just had to ignore that and concentrate on solely on what was happening to the characters.

It is a very funny book, easy to read, and Brookmyre never fails to take his books in surprising directions. I find that he tends to conclude his books very quickly. In the middle of the huge climatic ending I was surprised to find there were only a couple of pages to go. He wraps things up quickly and neatly and very satisfactorily.

[E.J. Lamprey · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Christopher Brookmyre's most quoted reviews calls his style 'tartan noir' and that sums it up neatly. I started reading his books because I'd moved to Scotland and half the time I didn't understand the language. The first one was like having a bucket of blood thrown in my face - I was gasping with shock, but laughing despite myself. He's a very clever, very exhilarating writer and I recommend most of his stuff but this is still my favourite, just nudging Snowball From Hell from the top spot.

The text is fast, furious and impeccably written. Some of the characters have strong accents, but you'll hardly notice, you are being dragged through the book at such a pace. All his books are very funny, and very violent, and very, very exciting.

Honestly, I envy you if you're about to discover him, or even just this book, for the first time. Such a ride.

[John R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first ever Christopher Brookmyre title and I loved it--and still do. I discovered it during a trip to Australia in 1999 and it troubles me to this day that he isn't more popular than he is in the U.S. He might not be for everybody's taste but I'd put him on a par with Carl Hiassen and that's pretty heavyweight company as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, mystery/crime with a strong comic element isn't always popular but Brookmyre's sensibility is dark and funny in such a winning combination that I thought he'd make a bigger splash than he did. I know a couple of his earlier books were published in the U.S. but I've had to feed my Jones for him by buying import copies of the UK editions.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Lidi nemají rádi cizí věci ani v tom nejlepším rozpoložení a už vůbec se jimi nechtějí otravovat, když jsou v zahraničí na dovolené. A Gavin si vybudoval kariéru na těžení z britského smyslu pro absenci dobrodružství. Jeho úspěch byl postavený na víře, že lidem, kteří cestují do ciziny, musí poskytnout to, co chtějí - čili přesně ty samé věci, co měli doma, jen lepším počasím."
Dočten další Brookmyre. Příběh odehrávají se na vysloužilé ropné plošině, překopané do turistické rezervace, kam právě přijeli lidé na abiturientský sraz... a také skupina teroristů s nekalými plány. Což vypadá hodně zajímavě - a bohužel zase tak není.
Asi, kdybych to četl v češtině, mě to baví víc, ale přece jen se ještě pořád musím na angličtinu víc soustředit, takže potřebuju víc, aby mě příběh táhnul. I když tam jsou fakt příjemné bonmoty a nápady (viz ten úvodní), tak díky tomu, jak autor situaci popisuje z pohledu různých postav a pořád řeší, co si kdo myslí, se děj dost vleče a když dojde na nějakou akci (zhruba po 200 stránkach z 370 stránkové knihy), je celkem rychle odbytá a bezzubá. Postav je rozjetých hodně, ale jsou až moc klasické a nedostávají prostor se nějak zajímavě projevit. V podstatě z celého toho srazu po létech nevytěží autor moc zajímavého, žádné konflikty, žádné silné fóry. Stejně tak jsem čekal, že vymáčkne více z ne příliš schopných teroristů složených z mnoha frakcí (takže se někteří postřílí navzájem ještě dříve, než dojde k akci) či celého toho parafrázování akčních filmů. (Pobavilo dělení filmů podle kvocientu KS: kulky-smrti. Filmy Tarantina mají obvykle kvocient KS téměř jedna ku jedné, zatímco John Woo má tak tisíc kulek na jednu smrt. Podle tohoto kvocientu pak můžete ve filmu odhadnout své přežití.)
Není to špatné, Brookmyre si užívá jak ironický humor, tak má zálibu v legračně krvavých scénách (ale to už bylo v jeho předchozí knize), plus občas přihodí nápaditý detail. A i celá zápletka je fajn. Ale ty nápady jsou většinou spíše navíc, a i když představí spoustu postav, většina z nich nemá pro děj žádný velký význam a příběh táhnou vedlejší superborecké figury, které si autor trochu tahá z rukávu. Jo, jasně, není moc pravděpodobné, že by školní třída přemohla skupina gaunerů... ale tohle není realita, tohle je kriminální komedie.

[Richard Mulholland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled with this one quite a bit. It's a comedy thriller, that's as funny as a thriller and as thrilling as a comedy.

It just struggled with pace the whole way through, only to build up to an anti-climax.

I think I gave it a bonus star for Glaswegian loyalty.

[Eamonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! A Scottish Die Hard - what's not to like?

[Phillipa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh I do enjoy a good Christopher Brookmyre!

[Arthur Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wild ride

[Andrew Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utter chaos from start to finish. I loved every page of it.

[Blair H. Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very amusing, and well written, leading to several laugh-out-loud moments. Ther story stretches the bounds of feasibility, which is fine at the time, but leaves the ultimate experience an unsatisfying one

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gavin Hutchinson is a bit of a tool who has made his fortune by developing resorts for Brits who want to spend time in the warm sunshine but don't want to come in contact with anything too foreign - food, people, sports telly, etc. His latest venture involves turning a decommissioned oil platform into a multiple hotel luxury resort which will eventually be located off the coast of Africa. Unfortunately it is running late and over budget, so he decides to give it a bit of a promotional boost by a hosting a preview - a reunion of his old high school class, most of whom don't remember him, but think the free drinks and luxury accommodations sound good.

Unfortunately his unhappy wife has invited the two class members Gavin excluded - an ex thug turned successful artist, and a standup comedian turned tv star who is having a midlife crisis. So there are some unexpected interpersonal dynamics. Oh, and there is a group of mostly inept paramilitary types who are determined to take control of the place and hold the guests hostage.
It's very funny, pretty violent and seems just begging to be made into an action movie..

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely never read thrillers, and ended up with this one by accident because I was so impressed with the first book by Brookmyre that I read. And the book has some startlingly vivid violence,something else I try to avoid in what I read.

And, go figure, I enjoyed this book enormously. The plot is meticulously crafted, and really hangs together well. The characters are believable. And best of all, portions are laugh-out-loud funny. But Brookmyre also writes with style and intellect, and the reader will find an unusual combination of intellectual references and pretty graphically sexual (but very funny) ones.

Be warned, much of the book is in Scottish dialect, which one does get used to, and for the most part it was intelligible. On the other hand, I am totally ignorant of Scottish slang, and there is an amazing amount of that here. There should have been a glossary in the back!

Anyway, a truly great read by a very talented writer.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This a very funny read... but the story structure is terribly flawed. The first few chapters are funny, setting up the characters, however, it takes half the book just to get to the reunion. By the time I'd read the backstory (3 chapters!) on 3 characters (and still had several more chapters of character intros to go), I wanted to get to the main plot point... but the book goes on and on introducing more and more characters. It isn't until almost exactly the half way point that the reader is taken to the reunion. I really enjoyed the second half of the book more, it's where all the action happens, with the exception of the first chapter, which appears to be simply tacked onto the front of the book to encourage the reader to keep reading... if the book had started with the character intros, I never would have finished it, it took too damn long to get to the point! I'd say you can skim the first half of the book then enjoy the second half.

[Carl R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a rather unthrilling thriller about a class reunion aboard an offshore oil rig that one of the schoolmates has converted into a luxury resort--well, he's almost done so. Not quite finished. The reunion is invaded by a group of inept commandos out for loot that, it turns out, is not there.

Three elements of the novel sap the thrills: 1) endless rehashing of past lives, even in the midst of crises, with explosions imminent.2) The contrived improbability of many events which are meant to be funny, but turn out to be grotesque and stupid. Like the flying arm/fist that knocks out a retired police inspector out for an innocent walk, for example. 3) the hurried, too-neat denouement.

I did learn a number of rather nice Scottish colloquialisms ("weans" for "children," for example.) But that just wasn't enough.

[Nick Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really enjoyable - witty, well-plotted, twisted and twisty. I think I'm going to try and get through all of Chris Brookmyre's stuff.

The tale of 'school reunion on a floating resort' at the centre of this was clever and well-judged - plenty which the reader could identify with, written in a style which was true to life and full of little in-jokes which made me laugh. Brokmyre's usual 'blundering crooks' motif worked well, and the number and range of supporting characters was impressive and served the story well. This latter point would be my only complaint, however, 'cause the number of people involved - in conjunction with the lengths of chapters and the amount of pages between strands of the same narrative - made things a little difficult to follow in places. Damned good story though, exciting and funny.