The Last Llanelli Train - Softcover

Lewis, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852428902 ISBN 13: 9781852428907

Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 2009

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Writing

“It’s Bukowski’s Pulp gone West Country.”—Uncut

“Takes the classic elements of noir . . . and pushes the genre to its limits.”—Welsh Literature Abroad

Meet Robert Llewellyn, the most apathetic, hopeless private eye ever created. He’s one step away from the gutter when he gets one last case—and that case smells of money.

Mixing purest noir with some jet-black comedy, The Last Llanelli Train offers an unforgettable portrait of a man whose life is falling apart.

Robert Lewis is from the Black Mountains in Wales. He now lives in Swansea.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Lewis was born in Wales. He spent his twenties getting sacked, drinking in bars, and caring about the wrong things. He still thinks literature can save him, and he's almost thirty now. (He hasn't seen it save anyone else.) The Last Llanelli Train, was shortlisted for the PG Wodehouse Prize for Comic Writing.

Review

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 *

About this edition

• Publisher: Serpent's Tail
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1852428902
• ISBN 13: 9781852428907
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216