Meantime: The gripping debut crime novel from Frankie Boyle

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When Felix’s good friend Marina is murdered in the local park, he takes it upon himself to investigate and try and find out who committed this terrible crime. Although the central character of Felix acts as the narrator it is nigh on impossible to read his stream of consciousness and interior monologue without hearing the voice of Frankie Boyle in your head. Chilton preferred the "clever descriptions" over the "shock-value ones" and said that the novel succeeds as Felix is "transfixing, sharp-witted and slightly horrifying".

And yet with a slight twist of perspective, Frankie Boyle managed to infuse into the story moments of poignancy that were so unexpected their impact was more keenly felt and the story all the better for it.Anthony said that Meantime is dense with similes that are "caustic and often surreal"; Boyle identified a stylistic overlap between detective fiction and insult comedy. Mikey – the manager of the Go-Go, who is in a relationship with the Scottish National Party (SNP) politician Gary Mount to gather intelligence for the British government. Reviewers found that the novel's plot was of secondary importance to its social and political commentary, including Scotland's role in colonialism and capitalism and the nature of Scottish identity.

There are a few twists and gotcha moments throughout the story and I found myself really engaged by these and the one-liners that are dashed throughout. Felix and his investigation team find themselves involved in Scottish radical politics, cults, secret agents and more; all on the hunt for the truth. And as for the AI angle … well that was beyond a mind trip, the ‘philosophical discussions’ and tangents that the characters go off on often making me wonder if I hadn’t actually consumed a few hallucinogens too.Starts off the funniest noir - like a Glaswegian Big Lebowski - then takes you somewhere suddenly heartbreaking .

Not constrained to rely on the book for income, Boyle tried to recreate styles that he enjoyed reading. Though he had written non-fiction before, Meantime was Boyle's first novel; he wrote parts of the novel in hotels after stand-up performances and while wandering his hometown Glasgow. This might seem slightly tautologous, but if you like Frankie Boyle’s style of comedy, you will like his novel; and if you don’t, you shan’t. If you enjoyed Trainspotting for the madness that it was, and appreciate the intelligence that sits behind some of Frankie Boyle’s more controversial moments, then I think you’ll enjoy it.Donnie drives Felix to meet Healing Hands charity workers that Marina volunteered with, but the pair aggravate Mary and Matt to the extent that a fight breaks out.

As the evidence begins to arrive fast and furious, Felix enlists the help of others including his ecstatic downstairs neighbor, as well as a successful crime novelist among others, to bring about justice for his friend. Boyle said at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2022: "I would much rather, if I could, segue into writing novels and just stay in the house and not travel so much". Jake Kerridge of The Daily Telegraph found that—similar to Raymond Chandler's novels—atmosphere-building, misanthropic jokes and social commentary are prioritised over plot and the message is not nihilistic as Felix is not amoral. Which is perhaps a bad metaphor for this book seeing as many of Felix’s days are lost in a drug fuelled haze.It holds a different kind of magic, one where the disappointment from the referendum eats at the shoes of people walking to work, hailing taxis, and people on serious comedowns in dingy wee flats that contain all the hope of a mouldy pizza sitting on the countertop.