Garbhan Downey

War of the Blue Roses Reviews

Hughes & Hughes
Book of the Month for August

Ulster Tatler
Book of the Month for September

Sunday Tribune
Inventive with a sharp sense of the ridiculous.

Andersonstown News
If there is any justice in the literary world, this will be the book that raises Garbhan Downey’s profile to its full potential.

Irish Mail on Sunday
Acidic, humorous - he is an expert at the narrative rabbit-punch.

Derry Journal
Fast-moving, dazzlingly clever and often laugh out loud funny. It would make a great film script. A new peak - a personal best.

Culture NI
Lashings of spying, killing and romance - a thrilling and intelligent send-up of global politics.

Local Women
This rollicking satire is sure to stir your political consciousness and prompt many a belly-laugh long after you’ve sated yourself on turkey and mulled wine.

Ulster Tatler

It shocks you one minute, has you laughing out loud the next and ultimately is impossible to put down.

Londonderry Sentinel

I actually had to put the book down because the tears were running down my face.

Eamonn McCann, Derry Journal

A rollicking yarn... read it before Downey goes galloping off in another direction. The Novel of the Year.

Running Mates Reviews

Irish Independent
Downey's latest offering is unashamedly creating a new kind of genre - the Irish cross-border political thriller... Its rapid-fire pace, intriguing twists, high body count, and brilliant dialogue make it a really exciting read, and a worthy addition to the ever growing list of classy Irish crime novels.

Sunday Business Post
Fast-paced, outlandish and funny.

Irish Mail on Sunday
This blackly humorous romp fizzes with dark wit and has a razor sharp edge.

Irish News
Irresistibly funny. A wickedly sharp and often hilarious portrayal of the ubiquitous crookery that takes place behind closed doors in the run up to an election.

Sunday World
A superb blend of comedy, political dirty tricks, grisly murder and bizarre twists!

Kenny's Books, Ireland (Fiction Book of the Month, July 2007)
A roller-coaster tale - a good cynical look at the Northern attitude towards the South and vice versa.

Books Ireland
Those who appreciated the dry wit and acerbic comment of the previous novels will enjoy this one as Downey turns his satiric eye on politics North and South in a story of intrigue, deceit, blackmail and even murder.

Sunday Tribune
Ultimately, this is a satire about Irish politics and all politics are filthy. Is the book based on truth? What does it matter, the vicious infighting presented here as fiction is probably closer to the objective truth.

Irish Voice
He's a bit of one, is Garbhan Downey. In his new novel, a fast paced satire of Irish politics and political life, thinly veiled Irish public figures are given the full treatment... it just so happens that Downey has a talent for writing vivid dialogue in the Irish vernacular that makes this outrageous caper work on its own terms.

News Letter
A really good book... a brilliantly plotted and written comedy romp through a tremendously corrupt race for the Irish presidency.

Ulster Herald
His style captures the fly-boy humour and wise-cracking lack of deference of his Derry City home. Yet it is his knowledge of what former Irish President Erskine Childers once described longingly as the "cut and thrust" of Irish party politics that gives Running Mates its surprising authenticity. This work of fiction will amuse and inform anybody with even an inkling of interest in Irish politics in a new era. This is one to savour.

Alternative Ulster
Fictional gold ...a hilarious romp through affairs of state.

County Times
The plot, which is ingeniously constructed, has the fingerprints of a master craftsman and propels Downey to the forefront of the fictional writers of the day. If it is your intention to buy only one book this year, then let it be this.

Derry Journal
Fast paced, irreverent and irresistibly funny... makes Machiavelli look like an amateur.

Londonderry Sentinel
This work is a blisteringly caustic indictment of the entire political establishment in the north, south, east and west of Ireland... Downey is a highly talented writer with a remorseless wit, unrelenting honesty and a clear, crisp and flowing writing style. Running Mates is not a must-buy novel, it is a I-dare-you-not-to-buy-it novel.

In Derry
A cracking paced comic caper... this plot has more crosses than crucifixion day on Calvary and more back-stabbing than a reunion of Roman emperors.

Galway Independent(Book of the Week July 2007)
A biting satire on the politics of Ireland, its hypocrisies and false promises.

Private Diary of a Suspended MLA Reviews

What they said about Private Diary of a Suspended MLA

"The best Northern Ireland political novel of the century" – Sunday Times

"If there is anything good that came out of the suspension of the Assembly, it has to be the idea which inspired Garbhan Downey to write Private Diary of a Suspended MLA" - Irish News

"A hilarious romp" - Sunday Tribune

"A gem... this new author is eagle-eyed and as sharp as a lance" - Belfast Telegraph

"Rude'n'racy... gleefully sends up the Northern political process" - Hot Press

"The first book about the Troubles which made me laugh... the dialogue is slick and the one-liners terrific" - Sunday World

"Poking fun at politicians has become a national sport but to write well on the subject requires talent. I thoroughly recommend the book as a must for all those interested in taking the mickey out of our politicians" - Derry Journal

"Viciously funny, remorseless realistic" - Londonderry Sentinel

"An irreverent look at the crazy world of Northern politics. Genuinely amusing... with laugh out loud lines" - Ireland on Sunday

"By the time I had read the second paragraph I knew it was going to be a tour de force." - Eamonn McCann, Sunday Journal

Off Broadway Reviews

What they said about 'Off Broadway'

"A master stylist... Dammit, you can almost taste the steam off the pages." - Modern Woman

"Downey has once again constructed a world of rogues and crooks that Dickens would have been proud to have created." - Irish News

"A belly-laugh-on-every-page collection of short stories which will shoot to the top of the shoplifters' book-of-the-week almost overnight... Garbhan must have got the gen on every racket and scam in the city." - Sunday World

"Nothing is sacred... many laugh out loud moments." - Ireland on Sunday

"A nail-biting read. It's sharp, cynical, often caustic, but always enjoyable." - Daily Ireland

"A viciously funny look at the rise of crookery and roguery in Ireland since the ceasefires." - Woman's Way

"An instant hit... From the smoking gun to the smoking suitcase, 'Off Broadway' gives the genteel reader an insight into what is really going on all over the post-ceasefire North. I have already sent a copy hotfoot to Michael McDowell, the Republic’s Minister for Justice." - Derry Journal

"Expect a literary smack in the mouth." - Derry News

"If you can't see what's funny about Ulster politics, take a dose." - Books Ireland

"A hilarious insight to the political and business underbelly of the post ceasefire society." - Londonderry Sentinel

Your Confidentially Reviews

Philadelphia Inquirer
Selected as one of the newspaper's top seven International Crime Fiction books of 2008.

Fortnight
"Rave I shall about Garbhan Downey! The dealing of his Dunavady constituency make Jeffrey Archer's Westminster wranglings looks positively puerile... My book of the year of 2008 is Yours Confidentially: Letters of a would-be MP. To get through January, get all Downey from Guildhall Press in Derry." (Imelda Foley)

Irish Mail on Sunday
Sharp, witty and succinct. All I say is, Vote Downey.

Verbal
The subtitle, Letters of a would-be MP, is of the Ronseal school of thought. It does exactly what it says on the tin. The novel is in the form of a collection of letters, memos, emails and newspaper clippings. Each chapter has a paragraph or two of narration... but other than that Downey has restricted himself to a strict form and created a real challenge. Somehow he manages to tell a tale with a verve and effortless style that knocked my socks off... I'm telling you right now, it's the funniest book I've read this year. And I read a lot.

County Times
Three words - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

Derry Journal
It's Garbhan Downey at his very best with cruel one-lines packed onto every page.