richard happer

I am a member of staff at The Clachaig Inn in Glencoe, and I've just finished reading your book. I'd just like to say it is a serious contender for the most entertaining book I've ever had the pleasure to read, and it has been the subject of a great deal of jokes and banter for the last week or so. A hugely enjoyable, believable and very touching read. Many thanks from the depths of Glencoe! --James Roddie.... Brilliant, nearly cried with laughter at several parts and thoroughly enjoyed it. Any chance of a sequel? --Andy Ross, mwis.org.uk... I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone who likes Scotland it's not only the funniest book I've read in ages, with some classic characters and lines, it's also a very thought-provoking story with real messages (in between the chasing hot European girls and causing mayhem, that is). Hopefully destined to become a tongue-in-cheek classic of mountain literature! --Only A Hill, UKClimbing.com.... What started off as a coarse and crude 'blokes' book about beer and sex, turns in to a thoroughly engrossing adventure and travelogue. With some great characters, excruciatingly funny bits, some cringingly embarrassing bits and some real edge of your seat page turning stuff. And the ending - totally, totally brilliant. A tear jerker for even the hardest heart. Not what I was expecting at all. But brilliant. More please, Mr Happer. --S.J. Davies Your book nearly got me arrested. I was on the first plane to Berlin, sitting at my window seat with tears of laughter running down my cheeks. As you might imagine your average German kinda struggles to see the funny side of it - thought I was some psychologically unstable nut-job... Please write more books. --Jim Strang I agree with the other reviewer about the laugh-out-loud factor (some of the set-pieces made me weep with laughter) but the book is richer and more complex than the title might suggest. The three young men's adventure has a mythic flavour, with their different characters (savage, refined, and in-between) mirroring the conflicts between culture and nature that we all feel - should we try to get laid, or write a poem? Preferably both, the author seems to be saying. Surreal plot twists and startling action sequences serve to reinforce this sense of things happening on a higher plane - it's a journey though the mountains, but also a journey through Fitch's dark night of the soul. It's outstandingly well-written - hilarious dialogue, razor-sharp action and really quite chilling violence, and weirdly vivid descriptions of landscape (something I normally find dull, but did not here) It makes me want to go to Scotland! This is a beautiful, life-affirming read - I got through it too quickly. I look forward to Happer's next novel. --BJ Twiston-Davies, London