The Beach Beneath The Pavement

Top marks 2009-08-24

Reviewer: C. Walker

A friend recommended this to me. Glad he did - I flew through it. Witty. Swiftly-paced. Clever. Timely. There's knowledge in here, and Denning doesn't beat you over the head with it either.

You can see the characters - everyone from Bernard Hawkes, the catankerous journalist, to his oddball neighbour Dillwyn, to some of the supporting cast in the London offices, junk yards and pubs bars, and the gin-soaked toffs planning revolution from their farm. And hear them too. Well-observed. They're for real.

Treat yourself

sous les paves la plage! 2009-07-19

Reviewer: J. M. Sutton

Sous les pavés la plage!

In this extravagant philosophical satire, dark comedy with a whiff of post-modernism, the lost dreams of the 60s and 70s are corrupted to the point where only mad or dangerous people believe in anything. The pulverised ideals of a dematerialised culture result in rampant paranoia and conspiracy theories. New Age panaceas abound. The Human Company plans a pageant to inflame London's streets, but in the background the ever present Tranquility Foundation grows more and more sinister.

Denning's `Beach Beneath the Pavement' leaves British satire behind to embrace a fresher more European perspective. The writing is strongly visual and the narrative erupts as a cavalcade of small `happenings,'events construed to thwart the attempts of dissolute journalist, Bernard Hawks, to keep a low profile, and find `Animal' a beautiful and crazy girl terrorist. As I laughed through in two sittings --it is unputdownable-- I was reminded of an animation film, The Wall, by Gerald Scarfe. Dilwyn and Animal are unforgettable characters, while Bernard Hawks could be destined to cult hero status.

Funny and ingenious swipe at life as we know it 2009-06-16

Reviewer: Matty

Bernard is a journalist who's job it is to annoy people, a columnist hired to outrage his readers. But when he writes about planting bombs and the bombs start going off, it turns out that he's nowhere near as outrageous as reality. Caught up in events that he's sure are not of his making, Bernard just wants to see the young woman with the strange eyes again, even though she may be at the centre of it all.

Full of sharp and funny observations about life as we know it, this is a book for our times. The ingenious twisted plotting keeps you guessing and noone is really what they seem.

A historical novel about now 2009-05-02

Reviewer: Amanda Sebestyen

This is a historical novel about now: 'The Era of Post-Credibility.'

Post-everything philosophy, perfectionist costume detail, the minutiae of middle-class drug uptake, urban bombs, mechanised newspapers, the whiff of arrant sexism flip-siding male failure - it's all so well done.

If this book ever makes it into mainstream publication the author will doubtless be sued, with good reason. The rest of us will be too busy laughing as the doom-laden Bernard makes his phantasmagoric journey though 21st-century liggerland.

Shamefully funny.
Bloody funny.
Very, very funny.

A World Without Faith 2009-04-29

Reviewer: Jarvis Minelli

This is a very witty look at a world that is almost completely devoid of belief and fast sinking into paranoia. The bewildered characters seek meaning in a constantly shifting reality. The vacuum that they inhabit means that they are inevitably targeted by dodgy cult organisations or political extremists. The city is filled with dangerous conspiracy - policed by corrupt Pinteresque coppers. The countryside is inhabited by intoxicated maniacs that love nothing more than to kill small animals and suburbia is stiflingly pastel drowning in endless bowls of potpourri and fish paste sandwiches. This brand-ridden world of 'post-credibility' is all too horribly familiar. The question is, where do we go once the laughter ceased. I thoroughly recommend the book - It is compulsory reading for a world that looks to be sinking into meaningless chaos.