Lionel Asbo: State of England

"Martin Amis's Lionel Asbo made me laugh (as any novel driven by incestuous relations with your grandmother should) and then feel ashamed for that laughter (as any novel driven by incestuous relations with your grandmother should)." (James Kidd Independent)

"It's a Big Mac made from filet mignon... It is a book of lovehate. It is a powershake. And the biggest joy is that Amis seems to find himself (and finds us, by extension) loving the thing he loathes... So let's give thanks that Martin Amis was bad enough and brave enough to write it" (Nicola Barker Observer)

"This is still a Martin Amis novel, full of tense, fugitive moments...had me roaring with laughter." (DJ Taylor Independent)

"Being an Amis novel it’s not without the odd good joke, and he is, of course, incapable of writing and inelegant line. (It’s almost as if he alone can sense both the golden ratio of a sentence, and its perfect rhythm: it’s like he’s Michelangelo and Keith Moon)." (David Annand Sunday Telegraph)

"As soon as you begin this novel, it is clear that Amis does indeed love his monstrous invention, Lionel Asbo. Lionel is a fantastic brute... Amis’s delight in the incorrigible is genuinely Dickensian... This is a verbally inventive comedy...to be enjoyed in the same spirit as Little Britain... It’s a hoot." (David Sexton Evening Standard)

A modern fairytale from one of the world's great writers