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31 May 2015
Title
| Necropolis |
Author
| Guy Portman |
Publisher
| CreateSpace |
Publication Date
|
April 2014
|
Pages
| 306 |
Genre
| Novel |
Description (from Amazon)
Dyson Devereux works in the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council. Dyson is intelligent, incisive and informed. He is also a sociopath. Dyson’s contempt for the bureaucracy and banality of his workplace provides ample refuge for his mordant wit. But the prevalence of Essex Cherubs adorning the headstones of Newton New Cemetery is starting to get on his nerves.
When an opportunity presents itself will Dyson seize his chance and find freedom, or is his destiny to be a life of toil in Burials and Cemeteries?
Brutal, bleak and darkly comical, Necropolis is a savage indictment of the politically correct, health and safety obsessed world in which we live.
This book surprised me on several levels and for me, it would describe it as a mix between The Office and American Psycho
Dyson works for the local council, responsible for cemeteries and burials. It becomes quickly clear that while ambitious, he loathes working for the people he does, the people he has to work with. Now, anyone who has ever worked for the local council (or even in any office) recognises a lot of the characters described immediately. The power-hungry, the sad ones without a social life, the lazy ones. The author has a wonderful way of describing them with wit and morbid humour, and I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud. But Dyson has a very dark streak to him and I kept wondering whether that's all in his mind (think American Psycho here!).
The plot is around Dyson discovering that one of the people working under him looks very similar to war criminal who is being sought by an International Court. Can he hand him over and pocket the large reward sum to escape his humdrum life? But what you will mostly enjoy will be the characters he meets. In the middle of the book there is a rather explicit sex scene which came a bit unexpected for me (as Dyson didn't really talk dirty in his mind before), but it does fit in with his psycho character. I just came as a bit of a surprise for me.
Now, none of us would like to think that we would require the services of a cemetery one day, but we all will do. The really funny thing for me was that this was literally the book for me, as I not only work in a council office, but while not directly in the Burials and Cemetery Department, work very closely with them. How often did I think: "gosh, all the stories I hear, I could write a book." Great little book and quickly read, I would recommend it to anyone who works for the Local Council or even in an office. Great lunchtime reading, I'll promise.
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