John Niven is a terrifically entertaining writer. Working around the music business, I laughed and winced at Kill Your Friends in equal measures, The Amateurs literally made me fall off the sofa laughing (to be fair, I was sitting a bit funny), and The Second Coming's description of Jesus playing Born To Run on American Idol (yes, really) is one of the best bits of writing about the elevating and exhilarating power of rock music I know. He does sometimes misfire though - I didn't care much for the hackneyed boozy lecturer of Single White Male at all. No Good Deed isn't quite a misfire, but it's not up there with his best. I'l skip outlining the plot, you can all read the synopsis, but what it all comes down to is the relationship between two men at opposite ends of Boethius' wheel. It's an enjoyable read that I lapped up over two days, but I felt somewhat let down by the ending. Obviously veering close to spoiler land here, but the motivation revealed at the climax is a thin thing, and it didn't convince me at all. It's a shame because that retrospectively coloured my experience of the rest of the book. I'd been enjoying it a lot, but it suddenly all became insubstantial and pointless.

The blurb for No Good Deed drew me in: Alan, a well-to-do food critic and columnist, comes across Craig, an old friend he hasn’t seen in years, and is shocked to find him homeless and living on the streets – a long way from the rich rock star he was in the early ‘90s! In an act of goodwill, Alan takes in Craig and tries to get him back on his feet – except, after briefly enjoying Alan’s comfortable life, Craig decides to have Alan’s life and schemes to take it from him.

That sounded good to me – a solid thriller. But that doesn’t actually happen. Craig doesn’t try to have Alan’s life by taking it away from him, he just does his best to sabotage it. That bit of false advertising was disappointing to discover as well as a much less compelling story to read overall. The book is really about the anger less successful people feel toward their more successful friends – yup, it’s as banal to read as that observation is!

John Niven’s latest novel, No Good Deed, is barely an improvement over his godawful last book, Single White Male. The problem, again, is utterly shitty characters, a vapidly shallow theme and barely any story worth reading.

While Alan is an unlikeable sod, Craig is even less so. So who are we meant to be rooting for – if anyone? Do we want the penniless, ungrateful, miserable cunt Craig to get away with fucking with Alan – the less successful to topple the more successful - or do we want the wealthy, smug, self-satisfied twat to survive? Because I didn’t care for either of them!

That said, at least Alan did a decent, compassionate thing in taking Craig off the streets, out of the cold and into a warm spare room in his family’s house. He didn’t do it with any thought of reward but just to help out his old mate - egalitarianism at its best – that only makes Craig’s motivation to completely fuck up Alan’s life all the more stupid, petty and damn near sociopathic. I guess the message – besides some people resenting seeing their friends succeed; how hollow! - is not to help the homeless as they’re probably utter shits who not only deserve what they’ve got but will actively work to destroy anyone who tries to help them! That seems to be in keeping with this nasty story.

The narrative itself is an elongated short story at best. Besides a Farrelly Brothers-esque scene where Craig deliberately blocks up a toilet in Alan’s father-in-law’s house “hilariously” causing a flood of sewage during a fancy dinner party, there’s precious little to Craig’s sabotage of Alan’s life to grab the reader’s interest. A couple of easily overcome obstacles are contrived for Alan to jump over, an underwhelming and rushed finale is bolted on and the forgettable story is wrapped up unsatisfyingly. Numerous unnecessary scenes felt included to pad out the book: the dreary golf “battle” between Alan and Craig (golf is one of the most boring spectator sports in history, down there with curling and cricket), the magazine article in Scotland and multiple extended passages set in bars were all pointless and unentertaining.

Niven can write well but No Good Deed, along with his last novel, are a long, long way from his glory days with earlier books Kill Your Friends and The Second Coming – I recommend checking those out instead of this. While potential readers should beware the misleading blurb, I’d also suggest skipping this one entirely. Niven may have made me a fan with his earlier books but his latest stuff, full of cynical unpleasantness for the sake of it, has turned me off of reading any more future novels by him – his best work definitely feels behind him with just empty bitterness left to offer. No Good Deed is no good.

I really liked the premise of this book, which I imagined to be s somewhat updated version of the film 'Trading Places'. Alan is going well for himself; he's got a decent career, a nice house and a loving family. He's in Soho when he bumps into a homeless man who he recognises as a childhood friend; after a few drinks and a catch-up, he takes Craig back home with him. The idea is that he'll help Craig until he gets back on his feet but when long standing rivalries begin to surface, things don't quite go according to plan.

The novel is easy to read but I had a few issues with the characters, none of whom are remotely sympathetic, and the structure which feels like lots of set pieces strung together loosely round the plot. I really didn't need four pages of Alan blocking a toilet and it overflowing or multiple pages about s round of golf; neither of which added much to the story.

It's hard to imagine the intended audience of this book unless it's to act as a cautionary trade for tedious, middle aged bores. Not fit me, I'm afraid.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book as an arc.
I thought this was a brilliant book, the dark humour really appealed to me! Alan, a middle class food critic/journalist living in London meets old friend Craig who is a homeless, down on his luck musician. Alan takes him out for a drink and they reminisce over their schooldays in Glasgow. Feeling sorry for Craig, Alan takes him home and offers him a bed for a couple of nights. Of course, Craig is not keen to leave and Alan begins to regret his kindness.
This book is hilarious, it really appealed to my sense of humour. I felt so sorry for Alan, who had really done nothing wrong but as his life degenerates into chaos, he begins to accept his fate thinking things can't get any worse. I loved the part where he turns into Alan Partridge, living at the local travel inn, staying just drunk enough to blur reality.
This is the first John Niven book I have read, I will need to take a look at his others now.

This is a great book for discussion but stretched by my credulity a bit too far. When John sees his old mate on the streets, homeless and penniless, he takes him out for a drink, then to the Groucho club and then back home. Gradually Craig starts to mess with John's secure, achieving and successful life until near total disaster. I enjoyed the basic premise for the book but found it a bit too lacking in warmth. Probably I'm not the right readership but I didn't find it funny at all and didn't like any of the characters although his wife came close. I could appreciate that it was very well written and very current and I liked the idea but just not for me.

Entertaining, perceptive and very funny. Lots of wonderful lines that made me laugh out loud in recognition of their truth. A very enjoyable read.

This book was a satirical look at the upper class and the great wealth divide. It was funny and self deprecating. I just wish it was longer and we got to see a few more of Craig's evil deeds!
I was kindly sent a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

No Good Deed is a satirical novel about modern day success which exposes male insecurity and friendship in the process. Alan is a food writer a comfortable upper-middle-class life and an upper-class English wife, a far cry from his Ayrshire roots and the accent he’s long since cast off. When a homeless man on the street turns out to be his old friend Craig—who dropped out of uni to become a rock star and they lost touch—Alan decides to do the good thing and help him out. However, with simmering resentment and an unequal dynamic, their friendship isn’t on the sturdiest of grounds and soon Alan’s life is thrown into ridiculous disarray.

The novel is a dark comedy about youthful friendship, adult success, class, and the modern world of success and failure. From the start, Alan’s privileged and insensitive world is highlighted through glib comments and more deep set attitudes, and it is this vein that powers No Good Deed on through its narrative, with a sense that somehow Alan also loathes himself a little bit for what he has become, but also has absolutely no desire to give up its comforts and excesses. The narrative has the predictable feel of an obvious downfall, with Niven making it clear that a simple mutually supportive friendship was never exactly what Alan and Craig had, but this suits the comedic style, a mocking look at helping out an old friend and how such a concept doesn’t really exist.

Niven places the events squarely in the modern day, with references to social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr and extended mocking of the London housing market (Alan and his wife were lucky in the nineties and then into the new millennium, allowing them an expensive house in the country in the present). Mostly these give it an up-to-date feel, though there is perhaps a bit too much comedy aimed at the easy target of hipsters and an unnecessary referencing of Trump.

I found it funnier than Niven’s earlier novel Kill Your Friends, with its continually poking fun at the lifestyles of the modern well-off middle-class being more engaging and easy to find ridiculous. In some ways it feels similar to the recent Trainspotting sequel film in that old friendships and nostalgia mix with modern technology and growing up in different ways, although Niven’s novel is less amusingly feel-good and more satirical. No Good Deed is a sharp and funny look at friendship, growing up, and the ridiculousness of wealth and class in modern society.