Cheap Layer Cake (Book) (J. J. Connolly) Price

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Customer Reviews of Layer Cake

Very good
Realities are a zig-zaggy thing in Layer Cake. The plot, character motives and entire belief systems changed directions almost on the paragraph. If you don't pay quick attention, you might as well be reading the phonebook by the last several chapters. And I admit I got swallowed up by the multitude of thinly explained switcharoos at some points. But all these traits are complementary to the novel, whose characters are themselves desperately trying to keep up. A recurring euphemism in Layer Cake? "Don't lose the plot, brov." That's right.

Fancy Readin' a Bitta Good Crime Tale, Brov?
Written back in 2000, J. J. Connolly's debut novel is receiving a lot of buzz these days because of its recent film adaptation. The movie was directed by Matthew Vaughn, producer of the British underworld capers "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch". There will doubtless be many comparisons drawn between the three works based on similarities in setting and characterization. However, "Layer Cake" ultimately distinguishes itself with a more hard-boiled tone and straightforward characters. <
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>The narrator is a mid-level player in the London drug scene who is looking to retire in one piece before his upcoming 30th birthday. However, the head of his syndicate has other plans for him - a pair of daunting jobs that will earn him his freedom to leave the crime family for good with no bad feelings. <
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>The voice of the unnamed first-person narrator is both the strength of the book and its biggest burden. The narrator's language is slick yet credible, leading to some great dialogue scenes accompanied by well-conceived commentary in his thoughts. Being proper criminals in the London scene, everybody uses Cockney rhyming slang, which takes a while to pick up. There are times that I wished for annotated version with editor's notes - I recommend looking up rhyming slang on the Internet or else checking out the bonus material on fhe "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" DVD. For credibility's sake, there is a mountain of profanity as well, including some "strongly-worded" phrases that are apparently more commonplace in Britain than here in the States (check out the Statistically Improbable Phrases section above to decide whether or not this book is for you). On the downside, the stream-of-conscious flow sometimes hindered the plot and rendered certain action passages very difficult to follow. For example, the protagonists cycle through numerous nicknames for rival gangs with no warning, making it a real task at times to keep up with who's dealing with whom. This device has a tendency to smother the plotting more than the Cockney rhyming slang and phonetic misspellings ever could. <
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>The plot is a straightforward stream of cons and double-crosses as each faction tries to get the upper hand and escape with the loot. I was disappointed that the initial thrust of the plot - the narrator's quest to retrieve the runaway-junkie daughter of a friend of the boss - abruptly fizzled near the end for the sake of adding yet another twist. Plot twists are dime-a-dozen in many fiction genres today, and I felt that the plot would have been better served by credibly finishing what it started rather than piling on implausible surprise after surprise for the last 100 pages. <
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>I'm also surprised to see reviews that proclaim this a funny book. While many of the characters displayed a quirkiness that drew an occasional sly smile, I found the book's tone to be subtly very gritty, lacking any of the slapstick Benny Hill buffoonery of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" or "Snatch". That tone is mercilessly reinforced by our protagonist's actions. He graduates through several levels of casual amorality by the end, casually building up his personal rap sheet for the singular goal of getting out of the gangster game with as much profit as possible. Those looking for a morality play with tearful self-examination leading to confessionals about the harm done will be sorely disappointed by our hero's selfishly blase attitude throughout. <
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>Overall, this book is a good read, recommended for fans of crime fiction who are looking for new locales. Well-crafted dialogue and voice coupled with interesting settings manage to outshine an ultimately predictable plot.