This Charming Man, C. K. McDonnell
This Charming Man, C. K. McDonnell
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This Charming Man
(The Stranger Times 2)

Author: C. K. McDonnell

Series: Stranger Times

Narrator: Brendan McDonald

Unabridged: 13 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/17/2022


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

STOP PRESS! The Stranger Times wins the 2023 British Fantasy Award for Best Audio Work!

Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester . . .

Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.

It's not like they don't have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn't like people touching his stuff - it's the principle of the thing.

Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as 'a lot of baggage' and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.

This Charming Man is the second book in the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series.

'Wonderfully dark, extremely funny, and evocative of Terry Pratchett - which I think is the highest compliment I can give.' ADAM KAY, about The Stranger Times . . .
'A gag-filled romp . . . in the spirit of Terry Pratchett.' The Times
'Great characters, a jet-propelled plot, and a winning premise.' Guardian
'Fresh and genuinely funny.' SFX

© C.K McDonnell 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reviews

Goodreads review by Nigel on December 28, 2022

Briefly - SO funny, I think that was probably better than the first book for me. In full This follows on from the first book in this series - and do read that first - The Stranger Times. Vampires don't exist and even the Founders and the Folk know this to be true. So how come there seem to be credible......more

Goodreads review by Juliano on February 24, 2022

4.5, rounded up! It's not a literary masterpiece, but I haven't laughed so hard (reading) since i discovered Discworld and Terry Pratchet some 20 years ago! Some chapters have, in the end, a piece of "News" from the newspaper (Stranger Times) of supernatural things. Two of them are GEM: "Earth Cancell......more

Goodreads review by Maria on July 15, 2023

For me, book one was much better than this installment of The Stranger Times. Charming Man was missing a coherent and surprising storyline that usually this author delivers. The humor was there but for me this was not enough. Ten stars for humor but with a weak plot it was reduced to three. The auth......more

Goodreads review by Lata on January 14, 2024

Vampires don't exist. Even in this paranormal world. Then why are there so many violent deaths, all evidence pointing to the existence of vampires? Stranger Times and their strange set of employees start investigating and there are stranger revelations. The 2nd book in Stranger Times series. All the......more

Goodreads review by Anna on July 09, 2022

Fast paced, witty and hilarious as usual.......more


Quotes

With crisp plotting, scabrous dialogue and deftly applied splashes of gore, former comedian C.K. McDonnell has served up another winner from his cast of delightful losers. DAILY MAIL

McDonnell makes Manchester chaotic, hilarious, elegiac and sinister at the same time . . . very, very funny . . . the work has already been compared frequently to Terry Pratchett, and given the whip-crack sharp lines and wryness, it is not inappropriate. But it is not a weak clone of Pratchett's work, and it has its own political edge. SCOTSMAN

Intriguingly brilliant . . . its greatest strength is in its engaging and enthralling characters, both new and old. The author revels in their personalities, their foibles and flaws as they guide you hilariously through an urban fantasy landscape bursting with myth and magic; all often hiding in plain sight . . . perhaps more Gaiman or Adams than Pratchett, McDonnell has a gift for describing the fantastical as delectably formulaic . . . if you enjoy your fantasy peppered with wit and deft creativity, then McDonnell's books will sit comfortably on your bookshelf next to those revered genre alumni. STARBURST

Fast-paced, brilliantly written, and with characters to die for, This Charming Man will have you laughing out loud time and again. THE-BOOK-DRAGON