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The Last Llanelli Train

The Last Llanelli Train

by RobertLewis (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2005

    $3.25
Synopsis

Robert Lewis' debut novel is an instant noir classic - one part Eddie Shoestring to nine parts David Goodis. Robin Llewellyn is a private eye. More or less. Part time really, while he gets on with the full-time job of drinking himself to death on the mean streets of Bristol. He's one step away from the gutter when he gets one last case. A case that smells of money. A woman wants to set her husband up for blackmail. All Robin has to do is find a hooker to do the job, and collect his money. Then maybe he'll be back in the game. Or at least have enough to pay for another drink and another bet. If only life were that simple. The Last Llanelli Train drags the private eye novel into the 21st century and some very dark places indeed. Mixing purest noir with some very, very black comedy, The Last Llanelli Train offers an unforgettable portrait of a man at the very end of his tether.

$3.25

Save:$6.77 (68%)

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 224
 Edition: Main
 Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Published: 02 Jun 2005
ISBN 10: 1852428902
ISBN 13: 9781852428907

Media Reviews
At times sordid, sometimes funny, occasionally bleak and sinister, this is a powerful if disenchanted journey, with echoes of Chandler, of course, but also of great mavericks such as James Crumley, Ellroy and Derek Raymond. Wonderfully misanthropic and sad, it's the sort of book that makes you look uncomfortably at the face in the mirror, for fear of recognising aspects of Robin in yourself * Guardian *
This thriller excels itself in sheer, grinding ill-fortune. Not one for the beach, but a well-written chronicle of a life gone seriously wrong * FHM *
This debut from a talented young Welsh writer brings the detective genre bang up to date... an entertaining mix of classic noir with a twist of black comedy * South Wales Evening Post *
A jet-black comedy... emulating and updating the vintage hard-boiled style of Hammett and Chandler * Western Daily Press *
At times sordid, sometimes drop dead funny, occasionally bleak and sinister, this is a powerful, if disenchanted journey through the hard-boiled fields with echoes of Chandler of course, but also of great mavericks like James Crumley, Ellroy and Derek Raymond. Wonderfully misanthropic and sad, it's the sort of book that makes you look uncomfortably at your middle-aged face in the mirror, for fear of recognising aspects of Robin in yourself -- Maxim Jakubowski * Crime Time *
Written like a cross between Bukowski and Chandler * Evening Herald *
Riveting and exceptionally well written... dark, honest and guaranteed to keep you gripped * Buzz *
Lewis mines a buried seam in the national psyche with great subtlety and assurance... he is without doubt a writer of immense promise * New Welsh Review *
Has the requisite plot-twists, drama and sense of brooding danger and evil; as an anatomy of melancholy and addiction it could hardly be beaten * The Crack *
The Last Llanelli Train is Welsh Noir, a tour-de-force of squalor and desolation * Planet *
Peppered with grim humour * Writing Magazine *
As a first novel it is quite an achievement; the writing is assured and confident, the humour gentle and dark, the plot classically private eye with the unexpected twists and double-dealings... A total gem; it kills dead the cliche alkie gumshoe for once and for all and breathes more life into the crime genre, which for me just continues to blossom * Barcelona Review *
It's Bukowski's Pulp gone West Country * Uncut *
A comic noir number detailing the decline and fall of a dissolute private detective staggering drunkenly through the city's seediest bits * Venue *
the book's power lies in Lewis's evocative prose coupled with the warts-and-all portrayal of Llywelyn, who knows that he's on a self-destructive path, but is unable to turn aside. * Publishers Weekly *
Author Bio
Robert Lewis was born in the Black Mountains, in the Brecon Beacons, which is by all accounts a beautiful part of the world. He spent his twenties getting sacked, living in bedsits, drinking in the dodgier pubs of various cities, and caring about the wrong things. Most of this is still going on. He still thinks literature can save him, and he's almost thirty now. He hasn't seen it save anyone else. His first novel, The Last Llanelli Train was shortlisted for the PG Wodehouse Bollinger Prize for Comic Writing, along with Zadie Smith and Chrisother Brookmyre.