Killoyle

Another booze-soaked humorist in the tradition of James Joyce, Flann O'Brien, and Samuel Beckett.

Roger Boylan's first novel is about the inhabitants of the Irish town of Killoyle: Milo Rogers, a headwaiter and would-be poet with a bit of a drinking problem and a bit of a sexual one; Kathy Hickman, a writer for the woman's fashion magazine Glam, as well as a former pin-up girl; Wolfetone Grey, who reads books only by or about God, and who also makes anonymous phone calls throughout the town in order to make people believe, among other things, that they have just won the lottery; and a host of other peculiar folks, all suffering from and tortured by problems with God, sex, Ireland, and the drink. Accompanying all of this are the acerbic, opinionated, hilarious footnotes of a nameless figure who rudely comments upon the characters, events, and anything at all.