Christopher Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre was born in 1968 in Glasgow, Scotland and he completed his studies in English literature and drama there in 1989. After that he worked as a journalist and proofreader for various newspapers in the USA and Britain.Brookmyre’s first novel, the thriller »Quite Ugly One Morning« (1996) is also the debut of the character Jack Parlabane, who was to assume the leading role in four other books by the author. Based on his own experiences, Brookmyre created in Parlabane the figure of an investigative journalist whose research work often leads him into the grey regions of law and morality. The murder of a doctor turns out to be merely one symptom of the problems brought forth by a reform of the British health system. In »Country of the Blind« (1997), »Be My Enemy« (2004) and »The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks« (2007), the author brings Parlabane’s unconventional investigative style as he fights against the criminal representatives of the establishment, which he describes at breakneck speed and with a great deal of black humour, together with tightly packed satirical criticism of society. As Brookmyre revealed on BBC Radio 4 in 2005, his main character was inspired by the figure Ford Prefect from »The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy« series by British writer Douglas Adams, especially his habit of walking gleefully into extremely dangerous situations. And yet Brookmyre’s narrative style is oriented more towards American writers like Carl Hiaasen, as well as his heroic characters such as the terrorist hunter Angelique de Xavia, who is in action in three of Brookmyre’s books, including »The Sacred Art of Stealing« (2003). After already dealing with the subject of obsessive computer game playing in the novel »A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away« (2001), »Bedlam« (2013) tells the story of Ross, a programmer who appears to be imprisoned in the world of a computer game that he played as a teenager. While he fights his way through different games, the question of whether a real life to which Ross could return even exists arises again and again.Brookmyre is also involved in developing a computer game of the same name which deals with the evolution of shooter games. His literary work has earned the First Blood Award for the best crime debut of the year in 1996, the 2000 Sherlock Award and others. Christopher Brookmyre lives near Glasgow.
Quite Ugly One Morning
Little, Brown
London, 1996
Wer schlafende Hunde weckt
Galiani
Berlin, 2012
[Ü: Hannes Meyer]
Die hohe Kunst des Bankraubs
Galiani
Berlin, 2013
[Ü: Hannes Meyer]
Bedlam
Little, Brown
London, 2013
Angriff der unsinkbaren Gummienten
Galiani
Berlin, 2014
[Ü: Hannes Meyer]