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    The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel

    Written by Jeremy Massey

    Narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A dark and unexpected novel about a Dublin undertaker who finds himself on the wrong side of the Irish mob.

    Paddy Buckley is a grieving widower who has worked for years for Gallagher's, a long-established - some say the best - funeral home in Dublin. One night, while driving home after an unexpected encounter with a client, Paddy hits a pedestrian crossing the street. He pulls over and gets out of his car, intending to do the right thing. As he bends over to help the man, he recognizes him. It's Donal Cullen, brother of one of the most notorious mobsters in Dublin. And he's dead.

    Shocked and scared, Paddy jumps back in his car and drives away before anyone notices what's happened.

    The next morning the Cullen family calls Gallagher's to oversee the funeral arrangements. Paddy, to his dismay, is given the task of meeting with the grieving Vincent Cullen, Dublin's crime boss, and Cullen's entourage. When events go awry, Paddy is plunged into an unexpected eddy of intrigue, deceit, and treachery.

    By turns a thriller, a love story, and a black comedy of ill manners, The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley is a surprising, compulsively listenable debut novel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 12, 2015
    ISBN9780698402263
    Unavailable
    The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      It's a given that an undertaker is going to be surrounded by sadness and death, but when that sadness has lingered for years like a second skin and the death is at the unwitting hands of said undertaker then it's a different story entirely. Add to that the fact that the deceased is the beloved younger brother of a notorious Irish mob figure and things can get crazy. That's exactly what happens in Jeremy Massey's dark debut novel, “The Last Four Days of Paddy Buckley”.

      I loved reading this book. The prose is beautiful, the characters are fleshed out, and the plot is so engaging that nothing could tear me away from a page. Paddy’s unlikely, often humorous predicament is like an imminent accident unfolding in slow-motion: you can’t look away even though the anticipation is torturous. Compounding the problem is the fact that Paddy’s character is mentally only half present, suffering from the loss of his wife and resultant insomnia while the fates seemingly conspire to ruin him. He just keeps digging himself further into a hole. Oddly enough, all of the bad things allow him to experience a strange yet enlightening metamorphosis before the end.

      The details of life and death in this book are frank; I wasn’t surprised to learn that Massey also worked in an Irish family funeral business. I’ve seen worse but it’s not for the squeamish. Despite the expected morbidity and violence it was a satisfying read. It's one of those rare stories that had me hooked from start to finish, on the edge of my seat the whole time.
    • 4/5
      Loved the voice of this book and the wacky antics of Paddy Buckley, funeral home worker about town, and man oh man does he ever get around town.This is a great way to spend a few hours, it's a fun story, and I had been hoping, since this is pitched as a black comedy, that it would be a little darker than the way it all wraps up, but not a bad book, by any means.
    • 4/5
      Not your usual fare by any means. Romance? Sure. Mystery? Not really. Suspense? Yes. Humor? Yes again.
    • 5/5
      ** I received this in a Goodreads “First Reads” giveaway (via Penguin Random House Canada) **

      Paddy works for Gallagher’s, the best funeral home in Dublin. Since the death of his wife and unborn child two years earlier Paddy has thrown himself into his work. He suffered from insomnia anyway so he made himself available for the calls that came at all hours of the day and night. Death is not a 9 to 5 occupation. His boss likes him. The bereaved are comforted by him. His coworkers respect his professionalism as well as his friendship. His life is not remarkable but it does seem to be on an even keel, at least until one week in October.

      On Monday, a widow making arrangements for her husband dies, and Paddy may have been a little bit responsible for her heart attack. Then the wrong body is shipped to Gallagher’s and Paddy needs to convince the family to have a closed casket to cover up the error. Could things get any worse? Always!

      In the wee hours of Tuesday morning Paddy is driving home from a late death call at a nursing home when he is distracted for a moment and hits a man crossing the street. When Paddy jumps out of his car to see if the man is all right he discovers he is not. In fact, the man is dead. The name in his wallet identifies him as Donal Cullen, the brother of Dublin’s biggest crime boss, Vincent Cullen. Paddy panics, hops in his car and drives away.

      Tuesday afternoon, after a (needless to say) sleepless night, Paddy finds himself sitting in Vincent Cullen’s garden to help him make the funeral arrangements for Donal. Vincent seems to like Paddy, but as the title of the book suggests … Vincent eventually figures things out.

      At 285 pages this is not a long book and I defy any reader to want to put it down before turning the last page. After intending to read a little with my breakfast and morning coffee, I finished it about four cups later and just in time for a late lunch. What better way to spend a Sunday morning?

      I like Paddy and his story is an excellent telling of what happens when someone makes a split second decision that ends up going horribly wrong, no matter what he does to try and make it better. I like Paddy’s friends and their unflinching willingness to help him even at the expense of their own safety. There was a little romance mixed in to the chaos. There was even a dog.

      The only warning I could give to potential readers is that there are a few very graphic descriptions about the "behind the scenes" involved in preparing a body for the casket and about cremations. Information that Vincent Cullen intends to put to use for revenge. But don’t let that dissuade you from picking up this book – just close your eyes during those scenes.

      Best classified as a dark comedy this is an excellent debut novel by Mr. Massey.