The End of the Pier
Synopsis
Martin Collier, a stagehand on a seaside variety show, suspects Gerry Neon, the headline act, may be his father. When Martin learns something about his mother – a secret, a lie – he investigates her dark past and confronts his own painful history, in this gothic postcard from 1985.
Author's Biography
The son of Maurice Lee from Variety act The Grumbleweeds, James spent a childhood on the periphery of Showbiz, meeting its characters and observing their lives behind the curtain. A biology teacher, James lives with his family in Otley, West Yorkshire. The End of the Pier is his first novel.
Reviews
‘A Tour de Force of observational writing… compelling prose, laying bare the often seedy side of variety’ Sara Elliott, Just Books
‘Striking, compelling… a sharply observed evocation of a dying world’ Stav Sherez, author of A Dark Redemption
Price £7.99
Reader Comments
A masterpiece
Seaside entertainment at its best.
A brilliant debut, had me completely engrossed from the first chapter.
Beautiful, compelling writing and a really novel (no pun intended) story.
I hoovered it up.
A brilliant and unique book! A wonderful coming of age story set in a remarkably authentic world of pier postcards and faded seaside glamour and with a deliciously amoral villain to boot!
A gripping and gritty read. Gerry Neon is a great villain, and the variety show setting paints a vivid picture
Dark but funny. A powerful ending - loved it !!
Fantastic book
A joy to read
A wonderful book with great character development.
Darkly fascinating, I was gripped from the start to the finish. Nice cover too
A fantastic read full of insight from someone who has seen this world first hand.
An insightful, funny and dark insight into the world of seaside light entertainment. Would make a great film.
A clever, funny, beautifully-written book. Its observation of both chips 'n' booze seaside tourist culture and the grime of low-level show-business is brilliant, and the slowly-darkening plot is perfectly crafted.
A very enjoyable read.
great book
Despite it`s rather dark theme , I found it an authentic , funny and gripping read.
An excellently written debut about the interesting and rarely covered world of seaside theatre shows.
James manages to find the words that you couldn't.
A compulsive read and full of intrigue to the very end. Looking forward to he's second novel.
A thoroughly enjoyable read which totally captured the character of the times. It left me wondering what became of the key players.
A gripping and gritty novel which I found hard to put down!
A well written novel with great insight and invocative description of the time. A fabulous read!
A very funny book which made me re-live a number of visits to ' end of the pier' shows with my mum many years ago. Looking forward to the sequel now.
Gerry Neon is a bad lad
A great read. It put me right back in the 80's.
A superb first novel. One of the best books I've read this year.
I really enjoyed this book, it was both interesting and darkly funny. The ending was very satisfying. Gets my vote!