If you ever saw a punk rock concert in the 70s and felt you had found your niche, then Colin Bateman is the writer you need to read. Bateman's style of writing flows fast and rhythmically from chapter to chapter with loads of references to British punk bands, beer, TV culture, and Irish/UK politics. If you are ready to laugh, then read this book.

'Of Wee Sweetie...' is a light, funny look at how Americans view the Irish, and vica-versa. The story is rather simple. A kind-hearted, semi-talented Irish heavyweight fighter comes to New York to fight Mike Tyson. Dan Starkey, a less than semi-talented journalist, is brought along to document the Irish fighter's American experience. Things get interesting when the fighter's wife gets kidnapped and a black extremist group is suspected.

Colin Bateman makes good use of his humourous prose; he has great (and often crude) one-liners. He makes good fun of Americans and the Irish of all persuasions. I think only the most sensitive will be offended.

Bottom line: lightweight but very funny. Recommended.

Dry as a bone and with a sarcasm you'd kill for. Dan Starkey is an exceptional hero. Bumbly and ineffectual with a razor edged wit. One of the best authors to come out of Ireland in the last 20 years, Bateman can make you cry with laughter and smile with sympathy. If you enjoy dark edged humour, you must also try Christopher Brookbyre.

A wonderful sequel to Divorcing Jack, still with the same black humour, but a little bit more sentimentality thrown in.

It has you laughing, it has you crying, and you will enjoy every second of it. My favourite Bateman book by far.

This book proved to be a quick read as the story was engaging, funny and written in face-paced language. Dan Starkey is a regular guy with typical vices. When a drunken night results in some poor choices and even poorer outcomes, he has to muddle through a murder mystery. He's no Hercule Poirot and makes a few mistakes, but his brains and heart make up for what he lacks.
Dan is a likeable character with a realistic and humorous approach to life. Landing himself in the middle of a Northern Ireland political scandal is not in his plan, but the reader can see how this everyman deals with the situation. The Ireland issue is quite pivotal. As an American totally in the dark about this conflict, it was interesting to read about it, even in fiction.
There are several murders in this book, but none are very gorey.Bateman's writing is funny and honest. He has wit, but avoids sounding as if he is throwing it in your face. This book would be great for a long plane ride or as an addition to your summer reading list.

I think it's a really good book. The first chapters were a bit hard to understand, but if you continue to read, you find out how good the book is. I had to read it for school and i'm glad I choose this book. I'm not english, but I could understand everything, even though it was in english and not in dutch. The story itself, was funny, but also very serious. It gives you a good view of normal people living in Belfast and seeing the troubles though their eyes. I would recommend this book to everyone that loves humor and is interested in the life that people live in Belfast.

Divorcing Jack is my first novel by Colin Batemen, and I thought it might be a good example of modern British/Irish fiction. Fortunately my expectations were met.

The story is a rather slap-stick adventure of a Belfast columnist who finds himself inexplicably falling from an unexpected marital indescretion, to murder, and on to political scandal and terrorism. No, it's not realistic. But the biting satiric humour and colourful local language makes this a delightful read.

Bottom line: murder and mayhem with a comic twist. Colin Bateman captures the mood of modern Belfast without taking matters too seriously (or rather, not serious at all). Fans of other popular British/Irish writers (Hornby, Doyle, Welsh, et al) will find much to enjoy with Divorcing Jack.

I've read all of Bateman's work, and this is the palest of the pale. Takes much longer to get into, and you're left with a disappointing taste in your mouth after the investment put into getting through it. I'm always entertained by the randomness inherent in Bateman's work, but in this one, much more so than the others, the randomness is used to cover bad plot holes and lacklustre characters. If you're reading chronoligically, skip over this one and come back to it when you wistfully realize there's nothing more available (yet!). If you're looking for "good" bateman, look for Divorcing Jack or Empire State, give this one a miss.

One literary critic describes Colin Bateman as Ulster's (Northern Island's) equivalent of Carl Hiaasen. Being a fan of Hiaasen I can see his point. Bateman has a way of delivering great satiric humour is his (relatively) light mystery novels. But unlike Hiaasen, he doesn't seem to be overly negative and bitter (..sometimes Hiaasen seems to hate most everything).

In Cycle of Violence we have the story of newspaperman being exiled to a rather nasty outpost (a town called Crossmaheart) to cover the usual reports of rape, murder and gang warfare. He is actually filling a post left vacant when some ambitious journalist disappears and is presumed dead. Things get interesting when he by chance develops a relationship with the missing journalist's girlfriend, and he discovers this woman has a rather bizarre past (, present ... and the future seems dubious too).

Bottom line: a funny, breezy read. I hope its USA publishers decide to issue it in paperback. It's every bit as good as Bateman's earlier (and more famous) Divorcing Jack.

Colin Bateman has a simple way of thinking: He can take you wherever he wants if you want to go along. Death or "The Angel of Death" is a central character in this novel. It keeps you waiting, it keeps you feeling, but above all, it keeps you thinking. It's hard to say weather we are capable of having a political view.In this book, what matters is What is personal? and What is social? This division makes the whole story worthwhile.

Empire State shows that Colin Bateman still has one of the most witty and entertaining voices in popular fiction. His descriptions and dialogue remain as sharp as ever. Unfortunately, the anti-climatic, contrived ending (more contrived than normal for Bateman) to a promising plot left me dissatisfied. Overall, a step down from "Divorcing Jack" and "Cycle of Violence" a.k.a. "Crossmaheart".

Wonderfully funny, with snappy dialogue and a series of unbelievable coincedences. Things just keep getting worse and worse for protaganist Nathan Jones, so well described and developed that he reminds me of someone I know. Other characters are well developed, and the president is dead-on. Only complaint is the Northern Irishisms in the dialogue between the president, his chief of staff, and other Americans. It's quite disconcerting to have an FBI man complain about "a spanner in the works.''

This is by far Colin Batemans greatest achievement. The epic scale of the Empire State Building is matched word for word by Batemans snappy dialouge, wickedly sharp characters and wonderful twists. It reads like a Hollywood blockbuster in the making. Without taking away the glory of 'Divorcing Jack' or 'Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men' I would say this is the Bateman to recommend to anyone. Without a doubt the book of the 90's.