Divorcing Jack: A Dan Starkey Mystery (Dan Starkey Mysteries)

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That experience seeded one of the themes of the play: “Is the cure as bad as the illness in some respects? But can you take the risk of stopping the medication to see if it has gone away? These are terrible choices.” It is also unknown what the cause of such psychosis is. Possibilities include inheritance (there is bi-polarity in one branch of Bateman’s family), but also extreme stress and smoking very strong modern brands of dope, both of which may also be implicated in the story of Sean. As long ago as the 1990s, Bateman’s trademark of writing comically about horrific subjects brought accusations of inappropriate tone, which can only have increased in a time of “trigger warnings” and prepublication “sensitivity readings”. Does he feel his imagination is more constrained? “I’m not aware of being more careful. I think it’s a dangerous way of writing if you are working within such limits. But there is probably, somewhere in there now, an in-built censorship, in that you know there are just things you can’t say. One of my books is called Mohammed Maguire and that wouldn’t be published now. But I am aware of possibly controversial language in the play, and haven’t been asked to change anything.” So is theatre braver than publishing? “It seems so. But I’m going to find out when the play meets an audience.” I accidentally took one of my son's pills, and I ended up in an ambulance after waking up unable to talk or move. The paramedics had to put a pair of trousers on me. And my son takes three of those Colin Bateman provides readers with a hefty dose of what it must have been like to live in Belfast during the Northern Ireland conflict ('The Troubles') that lasted thirty years beginning in the 1960s, a time when Protestants and Catholics clashed night and day. I have to say that I totally disagree with the other comments on this film. Apart from the excess of swearing (am a bit of a prude), I found this film to be funny and a refreshing change from all the doom/gloom and disaster that seems to be normally associated with productions centering around Northern Ireland/Ulster/The Province (see movie for reference and explanation). There is a lot in the movie that I can relate to for some reason, even though I am Scottish, not Irish and have never lived amongst "The Troubles". The story (and screen play adapted by the author - an Irishman - so not quite sure where the comment about poor representation by the British comes in) is a simple one, and shows the humour and sense of openness and idea of ridiculousness displayed and recognised by the Irish. It doesn't hide the fact that there no go areas in Belfast and its surrounds, it doesn't hide the fact that there is violence going on, but neither does it hide the fact that the Irish are warm, funny, intelligent human beings. I enjoyed David Thewlis' performance, but feel that he is a very under-rated actor, being used for mostly "baddies" or yokel character parts on both sides of the Atlantic.

I’d heard good things about Colin Bateman, and decided to start with his first, a 1998 thriller set during the troubles in Northern Ireland.

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Still, though the references to Northern Ireland politics may confuse some readers, the Hiaasen-esque prevails. More recently, Bateman has started the Mystery Man series, about the owner of a struggling mystery bookshop in Belfast, who has to contend with the abandoned clients of the detective agency next door that goes bust. Jokes abound, threaded among the plot and delivered deadpan, so listen carefully. Watch out for the armoured mail-van (dismissed as "unrealistic" by one irony-impaired reviewer), and listen to the hoodlums happily reminiscing about a previous murder - far more funny, chilling, and convincing than any Tarantino patter about coffee or fast-food. DAN STARKEY is a Belfast born-and-bred reporter (as is his creator, Colin Bateman). He’s a cynic and an alcoholic, and so far, the hero (or more precisely, the anti-hero) of four novels and one film, loosely based on the first novel.

Later, when Starkey attempts to call Patricia, he hears her being kidnapped on the other end of the line. When the police suspect Starkey for the murder of Margaret and her mother, as well as the kidnapping of Patricia, Starkey is forced to tell the entire story to Parker. Parker reluctantly agrees to help Starkey.I guess this movie is about secrets, the truth, and how peace is really only a shallow lie that is used to cover up huge amounts of tension. This movie is a very strong mouthpiece that reports on the violence that is tearing Northern Ireland apart, and Don Starky is the person who controls the mouthpiece. A couple of times he comments of the number of names that Northern Ireland has because of the number of people that are competing over control of this small state: the British and the Irish, the Protestants and the Catholics. The Irish want freedom from the British, but under that there is a huge religious tension that is constantly ripping the country apart - and every time a peace plan comes along, it is only shortlived before something happens which rips the country apart again. It is interesting to note that Scotland and Wales are gaining their own parliaments now. The action in the novel is intense, the emotions extreme. Dan Starkey finds himself at the epicenter of a vortex propelled by three engines: wife Patricia catching him kissing Margaret, his unwittingly selling a much sought after cassette tape, his involvement as a journalist with an American interviewing the country's future Prime Minister.