My thanks to Random House U.K./Transworld Publishers/Bantam Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Stranger Times’ by C.K.McDonnell in exchange for an honest review. It is due to be published on 14 January.

This quirky novel is not easy to summarise, yet I will give it a go though without spoilers, of course. The Stranger Times is a Manchester based weekly newspaper that reports on the weird and unexplained. Yet actual Dark Forces are converging on the city and the newspaper specifically.

Hannah Willis has just moved to Manchester from London following an acrimonious divorce. With no qualifications and in desperate need of a job she responds to the following unusual web ad: ‘Publication seeks desperate human being with capability to form sentences using the English language. No imbeciles, optimists or Simons need apply.’

After a very odd interview Hannah is hired for the position of assistant editor, a job that she learns is something of a revolving door. This becomes understandable once she meets the editor, Vincent Banecroft, a drunken, foul-tempered (and mouthed) man who disparages the publication he edits. The rest of the staff are a ragtag group of wastrels and misfits, leaving Hannah feeling very much the token mundane.

Then tragedy strikes during Hannah’s first week prompting the staff to undertake some serious investigative journalism that brings them face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined.

C.K. McDonnell is the pen name of Irish crime author Caimh McDonnell. Alongside the journalistic elements, this novel also combines aspects of crime fiction, including a police investigation, with fantasy and the paranormal. Added to the mix is broad humour, satire, and plenty of witty dialogue. I expect that it will make a superb audiobook.

This novel was a delight from start to finish - laugh out loud funny yet with plenty of thrills and some serious moments as well. I was very pleased to read that it’s the start of a series and I will be looking forward to another visit to the offices of the Stranger Times next year.

Highly recommended.

DNF'ed, I really tried to get into this book but the storyline and overall execution were severely offputting.

Thank you for the opportunity!

A fun premise - the staff of a paranormal newspaper stumble across a real paranormal mystery - but the second half gets bogged down in some rushed world-building that doesn't quite come together. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Despite the fact that fantasy novels on the whole tend to take themselves a little too seriously, walking the fine line between fantasy, horror and comedy is a tricky one. This may be because world building itself is a serious business and using humour poorly can undermine the effect and take the reader out of the world. Striking the balance between horror and humour can be even harder. But this level of difficulty just serves to highlight when it is done well. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, both successfully took on the challenge. More than that, their authors avoided huge exposition dumps early on and took their time to completely flesh out their worlds. Which brings us to CK McDonnell’s new novel, and clearly the start of something substantially bigger, The Stranger Times.
The Stranger Times is a small newspaper in Manchester operating out of an old church and reporting on the bizarre, unexplained and occult. “Its stated task was to report the weird and wonderful from around the world ‘and beyond’.” Running stories like ‘Nessie is the father of my child’ and ‘Virgin Mary Halts Terrorist Attack’. The reader’s introduction to this byway of the information superhighway is Hannah Willis, recently divorced and out of cash with no qualifications and needing a job, so much so that she will even respond to this ad:
‘Publication seeks desperate human being with capability to form sentences using the English language. No imbeciles, optimists or Simons need apply.’
The paper itself is staffed by what turns out to be a fairly dysfunctional found family of odd souls from the editor Banecroft down. But Hannah finds a glimmer of acceptance even as she has to deal with the weird folk who seek to have their stories investigated by the paper. But then things get real. Readers already know that magic exists in this world and that an evil magic user is around with a mission that involves kidnap and the judicious use of a werewolf. When his plans impact on the staff at The Stranger Times they start investigating and in doing so open themselves up to learning about the real magical folk and monsters who walk among them.
CK McDonnell is a not very secret pen name for prolific Irish crime author Caimh McDonnell. So it is not surprising that the driving force behind this genre mash is a criminal investigation with paranormal undertones. Of course, the crime genre has a long history of using the press or investigative journalists as a means of investigation. McDonnell doles out clues sparingly, allowing the reader to build up a picture of this world before a fairly lengthy exposition that sets up the finale. This exposition builds, much like other modern celtic-based fantasy, on an ancient conflict between humans and fae. But even that explanation leaves plenty of aspects of the world only briefly touched on or referenced (including the final scene) to be explored in future books (and other media – The Stranger Times also has a website and a podcast).
The Stranger Times is the perfect way to see off 2020 or to see in 2021. It is a well mixed brew of wild, irreverent, bizarre, tense, compassionate and funny. And the perfect introduction to a new urban fantasy milieu which looks like it may be around for a while.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review – as always, thanks so much to Netgalley for sending this to me!

This is probably one of the hardest reviews I have ever had to write, largely because I had such a strange experience with this book. ‘Mixed feelings’ is an understatement.

The Stranger Times follows Hannah, a soon-to-be-divorcee, former spoiled heiress who’s trying to make it on her own for the first time and looking for her first real job. In doing so, she stumbles upon The Stranger Times, a chaotic and deeply weird newspaper that reports on the weird, the wonderful and the downright ridiculous. The editor, Banecroft, is a belligerent drunkard: his staff includes a god-fearing receptionist, a runaway teen, an intermittently suicidal Liverpudlian, a UFO-conspiracy theorist and the world’s most relaxed printing press operator – and now Hannah, whose editorial experience goes no further than correcting the typos in her text messages. Together, they all struggle to throw together each issue of this terrible paper that barely anybody reads – a process which is rudely interrupted by a tragic death on their doorstep, at which point their new focus becomes investigating the nature of the killer.

I hope this brief description of the characters has painted a good picture of what I enjoyed about this book: its eccentric but loveable cast. I remain at least partially convinced that this book is thinly-veiled Black Books fanfiction (Banecroft, the drunken Irish editor-in-chief, bears more than a passing resemblance to Bernard Black; he also has an employee who just HAPPENS to be called Manny. Coincidence? I think NOT!) and I truly enjoyed the chaotic energy these characters brought to the page. A large segment of the book simply follows the characters bantering at each other, and I really enjoyed the back-and-forth of their conversations; the dialogue is (with some exceptions, which I’ll touch on later) brilliantly funny and leaps off the page.

I had such high hopes for this book, largely because it was the first book I can honestly say has ever given me even moderate Skulduggery Pleasant vibes. People are always asking me for books similar to Skulduggery Pleasant, and I wish I could oblige, but I’ve honestly never found anything that compares until I read this. Its humour, snappy dialogue and the brilliant mixture of magical and mundane were so reminiscent of that series, and I was hoping I’d finally have a good recommendation to pass along. Unfortunately, as I kept reading, things kept cropping up that made me more and more dubious about whether or not I was enjoying this, and whether it’s something I could whole-heartedly recommend.

First of all, in terms of structure, this book is a bit weird. I’d almost call it sloppy – though that sounds a little harsh. It’s more that there doesn’t seem to be much plot to speak of for the first 50-70% of the book – just a lot of witty remarks with occasional segues that hint there is actually a point to all of this, before we drop back into the office to watch Banecroft perform some Tom and Jerry-esque stunts with a blunderbuss or spend twelve pages making fun of the weirdos who wish to be interviewed for the paper. This is the first book in a series, and you can definitely tell – it feels very much like a set-up book, giving us lots of threads that’ll be important later on, to the detriment of the plot of the first novel. This in itself wasn’t a deal-breaker – I’ve always been one to prioritise characters over plot, and while I did occasionally feel a bit frustrated by the pace, I enjoyed the characters enough to be pretty happy reading about their day-to-day exploits. It does come as a bit of a shock towards the end, when suddenly a whole novel’s worth of plot is crammed into the last 30% and you feel like you’ve been going for a pleasant afternoon drive with Grandma when she suddenly puts her foot down and you start shooting down the motorway at 200mph – but I could handle that.

My main issue with this book is going to sound very hand-wavey, and perhaps it is, but the best way I can describe it is that it gave me a bad vibe. That sounds very sinister, and perhaps a little melodramatic. It wasn’t constant, but little things kept cropping up that made me start to feel uncomfortable.

Firstly, the humour in this book walked a very fine line between funny and sly, and often went too far over the line for my liking. It felt as if the author was trying too hard to be funny at all times, in a way that made it all start to seem forced – which was sad, because it detracted from the moments where the book was genuinely amusing. The jokes often had quite a mean-spirited edge at a lot of points, which was also disappointing. It’s been proven time and time again that it’s entirely possible to be funny without having the joke be at someone else’s expense, and this book felt a little overly reliant on the kind of humour that encourages you to laugh AT people rather than with them.

In addition to this, there were some edgy, ‘ooh, political correctness gone mad, ha-ha’ sort of remarks slipped into the book in this very irreverent way that I really didn’t like:

‘Let’s start with the Chinese one and then we’ll do the fat one.’
‘Sorry,’ said Hannah, ‘but that is totally inappropriate.’
Banecroft flicked some cigarette ash on to the floor. ‘Oh, the late one has something to say.’
‘Yes,’said Hannah. ‘Yes, I do. I know you’ve got your whole being-horrible-to-everyone thing going on here, but you cannot refer to somebody as “the Chinese one”. It is racist.’
‘No, it is not.’ Banecroft turned to Ox. ‘Are you Chinese?’
Ox looked at Hannah and then nodded. ‘I am. I’m proper Chinese, me.’
‘See? […] Now, if Malcolm X of suburbia is done trying to empower the oppressed workers, we’ve got a paper due out on Friday.’

In addition to this, we have a chapter where the author uses several racial and homophobic slurs in the space of a few pages, and while this is clearly condemned by the text, I still don’t think it was an adequate reason to use those kinds of words. Again, if you have no way to show that your villain is a bad person other than having them throw slurs around, you need to go back to the drawing board.

I wanted to love this book, and I can’t act like there weren’t aspects of it that I really liked, but I couldn’t shake this uncomfortable feeling I had while reading that the author was nudging me and winking and expecting me to share in these icky, snide jokes he was making at other people’s expense. It really soured the reading experience for me, which was a shame, because I liked the characters and it seems like there’s a really solid foundation for a great urban fantasy series being built here. I very rarely get to read books set in Manchester (which is my closest major city) and get that pleasant feeling of recognising the settings and the accents and little inside moments that comes with reading a book set where you’re from. I don’t know if I’ll continue with this series or not – my fondness for the characters is very much at war with my concerns about the content, and it’s left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

The Stranger Times was – for the most part – a fun, interesting and quirky read, but I really can’t get over my reservations towards the author’s idea of a throwaway joke. I really don’t know what to make of this one, other than a lingering feeling of disappointment that what I’d hoped would be an amazing book was soured by its insistence on making marginalised people the butt of the joke.
3.5/5 stars

This is a quirky, fun little book about a newspaper that publishes only 'news' stories of the weird and wacky (often paranormal) variety. Frankly it is pretty bonkers story-wise and character-wise but it is also a perfect piece of escapism to read in a world that has become far too serious. Oh, and there's a sequel coming too!!!

The Fortean Times and the National Enquirer are real newspapers in the same way that Dr Pepper is a real doctor. But while The Stranger Times may appear to be another such questionably-sourced publication, the news it reports - on subjects like vampires, werewolves, etc. - are all true. Hannah Willis becomes the latest in a string of Assistant Editors of The Stranger Times who figures this out shortly after starting - just in time to cover a dark magician’s infernal goings-on in the Manchester underworld that might make her the last hire of the paper… evarrr!

CK McDonnell’s The Stranger Times, the first in a series of urban fantasy novels, is a decent beginning that, while not telling the most compelling or original of stories, introduces a beguiling cast of characters in a pleasing style that will mostly appeal to fans of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books.

The book gets off to a good start. McDonnell introduces his fair-sized cast skilfully while establishing the plot: a homeless person is murdered in grisly circumstances closely followed by a supporting character loosely connected to the paper. And then... things stagnate for quite a bit of time with characters slowly realising what we already know: that there’s a bad guy going around a-killing. The pacing never really recovers after that and the final act is an uninspired and neatly-forgettable Hollywood-esque conclusion.

I guess “Mild Spoilers” for the rest of the review…

The plot twists aren’t tense as there’s never any doubt of their resolution. Will the paper be shut down forever? Nope, because this is the first book in a series dependent on there being a paper. Will they stop the bad guy? Of course, because this is the first book in a series where our heroes will face more bad guys in more books.

I wasn’t that gripped with much of anything that was happening because a lot of it was predictable - even when a minor character dies early on, I knew they were going to be resurrected because this is set in a world of magic so why not? And then in the epilogue, there they be. Yawn. McDonnell isn’t able to make the reader feel the emotions his characters are feeling because events either have little or no weight to them or you can guess what’s going to happen next so you’re never convinced that what he’s telling you is what it is.

That’s also the weakness of magic itself in any story: write yourself into a corner? Magic will set you free! And so it goes here. He at least tries to quantify magic (poorly - “she’s a Type 8!”; it’s still vague, and sounds dumb) but it’s still used as a get out of jail free card with regards any scene and, rather than create an exciting finale, made for a tedious one instead.

Still, the cast and their amusing office dynamics more than make up for a fast-moving, gripping story. Hannah is a fine protagonist/reader surrogate - flawed but likeable and “good” - while Vincent Banecroft, the irascible curmudgeonly editor-in-chief (think Spider-Man’s J. Jonah Jameson but Irish) stole the show with his bottomless fury energising every scene he was in.

Dr Veronica Carter, the paper’s giggly lawyer (or is she…?), and the paper’s owner Mrs Harnforth, who was comparable to Ankh-Morpork’s ruler Lord Vetinari, were both memorable and enjoyable characters too. McDonnell also keeps us interested in these characters with surprise moments that reveal hidden depths like Banecroft’s vulnerability when it comes to his wife or mild-mannered Reggie’s vicious side when a pair of would-be muggers appear.

McDonnell leans a bit too heavily on prefab elements/archetypes at times. He describes the villain Moretti as a “Danny DeVito lookalike” which is lazy descriptive writing (though it did give me a good idea of the character so it was effective to an extent). The werewolf hitman’s motivations were to save his sickly kid (cue eye-rolling) and all that rubbish about the Accords (rules for magic users) could’ve been taken from any urban fantasy story.

There are some fun scenes though like Hannah sitting through her first Loon Day, when the paper allows members of the public into their church-based offices to try to sell them their insane stories, and Moretti’s Men in Black-esque visit to a magic shop. And the interstitials - excerpts of stories from The Stranger Times proper - were a cute addition.

I would’ve liked to have seen more originality and a stronger core storyline but this first book of The Stranger Times succeeds in establishing the world and tone of the series, and, more importantly, its likeable cast of main characters. Easy to read, mildly entertaining, even funny at times - while not as good as Pratchett or Aaronovitch’s books, McDonnell’s novel is still worth checking out for fans of those authors.

This was a delightful undemanding read. For those with ample time at this time there could be no better way to while away the unfilled hours curled up with this amusing, inventive, and entertaining book. Neither fantasy or science fiction, it occupies a niche which is entirely the creation of the author's imagination, and combines gentle adventure with humour. Just the thing for those who want for a while to be transported effortlessly into a cosy yarn.

This is going to be a really hard review to write. Mainly because my notes for this consist mainly of words like ‘fantastic’ and ‘bloody brilliant’, held together by abundant swathes of exclamation marks. I might as well have just drawn a big smiley face and left it at that!

Briefly attempting coherence: The Stranger Times is a humorous, paranormal mystery-slash-urban fantasy which had me grinning from the very first page. Our main character, Hannah Drinkw… Willis, is having a hard time, which gets weirder rather than easier when she applies for a position at her local paranormal newspaper offices. There we – and she – meet the most incredibly entertaining and lovable band of misfits imaginable. There is motherly Grace, rebellious Stella, comedy duo Reggie and Ox, the unemployable Simon and, presiding over them all is the impossibly obnoxious Vincent Banecroft (channelling Bernard Black).

In very little time at all, Hannah goes from doggedly humouring her new employers (from what seems to be a form of existential shock), to investigating a spate of mysterious local deaths, to facing down monsters with little more than a stapler and the office coffee mugs. Luckily, not all of her new colleagues are what they initially appear to be. Or maybe unluckily, depending on who you ask.

C.K. McDonnell’s worldbuilding is fantastic; I am desperately keen to find out all about the Founders and the different types of Folk. I adore that he takes tired old standard monsters like werewolves and vampires and spins them into something completely new and far more interesting. To be fair, his character development and plot-wrangling are ‘bloody brilliant’ too and the pacing is spot on. I have no criticisms at all… not even those little niggly nitpicking ones!

This book was an utter joy from beginning to end. I have already pre-ordered my hardback copy (Happy Unbirthday to me!) and feel a strong urge to sit pressing F5 repeatedly until I see a sequel pop up for purchase. Ideally it will then be the second book in a very long-running series… I will beg if I have to!



'As well as the Storn interview, Hannah had another one lined up for today – mainly because she had forgotten to cancel it. The advert on the website had been, well, different: ‘Publication seeks desperate human being with capability to form sentences using the English language. No imbeciles, optimists or Simons need apply.’'

– C.K. McDonnell, The Stranger Times


Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this book - it was a romp from start to finish. Exactly what we need at the end of this rubbish year! The characters were slightly cliched at times but (assuming this is the start of a series) I imagine that will develop as more is written. The story was well-paced and engaging, and the cliffhanger will definitely have you coming back for more! Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman and Ben Aaronovitch.

This is one of those weirdly, quirky, slightly eccentric, mad-cap books and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hannah has left her husband, she is has gone from being a socialite as such married to a man with plenty of money but who doesn't know how to keep it on his pants. She now searches the bargains in the food aisles and hoping she will soon find a job.

One interview is at The Stranger Times newspaper, a paper that reports weird and wonderful stories. Alien abductions, Elvis being alive, you know the sort! More esoteric rather than mainstream to say the least. But, it is a job. If the paper wasn't weird enough then the other employees are definitely filling the void that is left, in a rather fun way.

The story itself is of two deaths. The first is that of a homeless man, the second is a suicide. Both are quickly dealt with by the police. One officer, however, is not convinced and neither are the staff at the paper. What follows is a mix of chases, strange occurrences, weird events and even weirder circumstances as the hunt for the truth pans out.

This is such a fun read and it was one that caught me by surprise as I didn't read the synopsis before picking it up. I mean I did read it when I first looked at the book, that was several weeks before I started reading it though. The surprise was one that had me wondering what on earth was happening and wondering where the story was going, but through this, I still found myself eagerly turning the pages of this quirky and bizarre story that is a mix of urban fantasy and mystery.

I completely enjoyable read that had me sniggering to myself on several occasions. It has characters that I adored and I am really looking forward to seeing what this series hold in the future. A fun read and one that I would defiantly recommend.

Caimh McDonnell moves from Dublin to Manchester for his latest book The Stranger Times. We’re first introduced to Hannah who has recently abandoned her philandering husband and her privileged lifestyle and is consequently forced to seek gainful employment. Her second job interview leads her into a former church that houses The Stranger Times, a newspaper with a remit to publish stories focussing on the weird and weirder. The editor Vincent Banecroft, is a bad-tempered man with an unhealthy predilection for whiskey and he has a small team comprising Grace, Ox, Reggie, Stella and Mannie. This rich cast of characters is the strongest aspect of this book although there is also magic, folklore and many dark happenings to contend with such as two “suicides” which the police seem to want to dismiss as such. There is dark humour and gruesome events all occurring in Hannah’s first few days as the newly appointed assistant editor despite her total lack of job experience. I really enjoyed reading this book, although the second half was better, and look forward to reacquainting myself with this tremendous cast of characters when the sequel is published. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

The Stranger Times is the first book by C.K. McDonnell – but let there be no secrets here, C.K. McDonnell is a pen name for Caimh McDonnell. This is the first “traditionally published” book by the author. It is also very different to the books he has written previously (which, if you have been following my reviews for any length of time you will know I am a massive fan of).

The Stranger Times is an urban fantasy novel set in Manchester. It combines Caimh’s brilliant wit and humour, with the strange happenings you sometimes hear on the grapevine. It’s a bit like Terry Pratchett mashed up with Manchester based urban myths – which is coincidentally where the book is set.

In The Stranger Times we start with the story of Hannah. She has gone from rich socialite to pauper after discovering her husband’s many infidelities and needs a job, pronto. With few options available to somebody with no apparent experience she arrives at the offices of The Stranger Times. The newspaper is not a run of the mill red top or broad sheet. The stories it contains are more out there. Think of the newspapers that run stories about the ghost of Elvis living inside a persons cat, or aliens choosing a small house in Salford as their base of communications, then you’ll get the idea. With little option, Hannah is roped in as the latest of what appear to be many “assistant editors”.

While Hannah is at times the focus of this story, it is the collective who work at the newspaper who shine brightest (in my opinion), they are an eclectic bunch to say the least. Starting with the editor who is a chain smoking alcoholic, with a mouth that would have been washed out with dishwater many times over by my gran. He seems to have his own ideas about the paper, and while he may not believe the stories his journalists are publishing, still wants to ensure that the paper is of the highest quality. He also lives in his office.

His long suffering assistant, Grace, is the glue that holds the whole system together – if anything she is his polar opposite – and while their relationship is hilarious at times, it is clearly built on a strong friendship.

Our other main characters include two journalists, Ox and Reggie, (who are constantly at odds with each others strong beliefs and stances on UFO’s, government conspiracies and more) Stella (a runaway who got a job by…. breaking into the building…), and a (mostly) naked Rastafarian man named Manny. So yes, as I have said, a wild a eclectic bunch.

While the backdrop to this novel may seem crazy enough the author also has to throw in a plot to match and has done so superbly. There appears to be a rogue magician on the lose who is using his powers in ways which are not acceptable. His goal is revealed over the course of the novel, however, his actions have lead to the deaths of two people and it has not gone unnoticed. Enter the staff of The Stranger Times. While the paper normally deals with the outrageous, they find themselves embroiled in an investigation into these deaths, one of whom is close to the staff. The paper all of a sudden goes into “proper investigation” mode to try and find out answers to the burning question of just what is going on – while fending off the eyes of the police.

Filled with fantasy, humour and intrigue this is a fantastic novel. Don’t let the urban fantasy tag put you off if you are not generally a fan of the genre. Caimh has really pulled out all the stops here, and as I was reading it felt as if he was creating the characters and the world he really wanted to. I can’t wait for him to explore these characters more. I was gripped from the word go, and I felt really invested in the characters and the story. I highly recommend you check this out upon it’s release next month.

wow i really enjoyed reading this book. Couldnt put it down at times. Really different, kept me thinking and enjoying the characters, their own characteristics and what was going to happen.
Great ending.

This was just brilliant. I read a review saying that it felt like a mash-up between Mick Heron and Ben Aaronovitch which prompted me to read, and I agree.
There's a really well layered plot, with fantastic characters and some belly laughs along the way.
Inspired by the British newspaper, The Fortean Times; home of "Strange phenomena — curiosities — prodigies — portents — mysteries" this is an adventure into the world of The Folk, of magic and the supernatural. At the helm is Banecroft, who has to be the most cantankerous of bosses. He is joined by Reggie, Ox, Grace, Stella, Manny and new girl Hannah. There is murder, mystery and revelation upon revelation; this is the first of a new series and I'm really excited to read what comes next.

When Hannah Willis finds herself in need of a job she stumbles across The Stranger Times newspaper, which reports the weird going-ons in the UK, whose staff are just as eccentric as the stories they publish. When a tragedy strikes the real investigative journalism begins, which leads them to the shocking revelation that some of the “nonsense stories” are terrifyingly real.

This book is such a fun read. The writing style is very humorous and had me laughing out loud at certain points. The author is a former stand up comedian, and that comes through in his writing style, especially with some of the situational observations the characters make in the book. The book doesn’t take itself too seriously, is a little bonkers and a little daft, but in a fun and really entertaining way, and I flew through the chapters.

Of the staff of The Stranger Times there wasn’t one character I didn’t like, even Banecroft, the foul-mouthed editor. He might shout and bully his staff, but he is so ridiculous and his life is such a shambles, it is hard not to enjoy his character. Most of the story is told through Hannah, who brings the reader into the strange world of the newspaper. After a couple of days floundering in her new job she really steps up and takes the new discoveries in her stride. The scenes between the staff were some of my favourite parts of the novel, and had me wondering how they ever manage to get an edition out on time.

The story outside the newspaper builds well, if not a little confusingly, until the characters learn the truth of what is going on in Manchester. The book starts a little slow, as the world and characters are introduced, but as they start to investigate the pace really picks up, and the story becomes a lot tighter. There are some dark moments and some brilliant twists and turns in the story, and it sets up a world of magic and power, which will continue into a second book.

This book reminded me a lot of the Rivers of London series, which I love, so if you’re a fan of Peter Grant, or other urban fantasy novels, this is one to check out.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, Transworld Press and CK McDonnell for this ARC to read and review. Book published 14th January 2021 (UK)

The first chapter of this one info dumped a lot of back story and really should have started from the end of chapter one, but it was interesting when it got going from that point.

Hannah Willis goes to the newspaper office for The Stranger Times, which reports on the weird and wonderful. What she doesn't expect is a ragtag bunch of characters who run the paper. Her interview had me howling with laughter and sure I was really going to like this book. Just calling the phrase 'vegetarian meal' an oxymoron had me in stitches.

It only gets better from there, but then a fantasy magic subplot enters the fray. In some ways I found it a distraction from a strong character driven story, but it ties in to give the strange subjects the paper deals with some reality and the humour was amazingly done all through.

I followed the link at the end to the website set up for the world of Stranger Times and found several 'news' stories of the sort the paper publishes, some of which featured in the plot. There's also a disclaimer to reassure the reader that it's all fictional. I get the impression there will be more books in this world, but to my joy the story finished with proper closure. That's the sort of series I like and there's a good chance I'll read more books as they come out. Very enjoyable.

This was definitely a fun read! The writing style was humorous, not taking it too seriously. I really enjoyed it.
The story was cool, the plot moved smoothly. Characters were interesting. I'd be curious about more books by the writer.
Thanks a lot to NG and the publisher for this copy.

When Hannah finds herself almost penniless in Manchester, and in desperate need of a job, she unwittingly finds herself thrust into the crazy world of the strangers times newspaper. Her new boss an eccentric and incredibly moody Irish man, quickly has her doubting her choices. But desperate times call for desperate measures and at this point, what has she got to lose.

This book is full of vivid and exciting characters and will keep you laughing from the very first page, to the very last.

McDonnell is a talented writer, who has a knack for keeping you intrigued, and a very unique and wonderful writing style.

I've not come across his books before but would certainly be interested in reading more of his books in the future.

As always a big thank you to NetGalley, C.K. McDonnell and his publisher, for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting comedy/fantasy novel. Didn't really know what to expect from the book blurb, but found myself absorbed by the storyline, which moved along with some pace (which I like) and the humour kept it entertaining. This wouldn't be one of my usual choices, but I really enjoyed it and would look for other titles from this author.