The Black Dog: The life-affirming debut novel from one of Britain's most-loved comedians

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At face value, their lives couldn't be more different, but perhaps fate has a way of bringing kindred spirits together - and perhaps each holds the other's redemption in their hands. I am not a prude, far from it - but the amount of swearing in this book is ridiculous. It's too much, and just doesn't add anything to the plot of the characters. In fact, it made me dislike the characters more!

The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges | Goodreads The Black Dog by Kevin Bridges | Goodreads

Some the observations made are bang on and further show that Kevin has far from forgotten where he is from I particularly like the c##t comment and irony about the westend. The more deeper observations about the male mental health struggle, the social mobility in our society, the moral issues of crime and general state of Scotland are subtle but make the point clear, this for me a real skill and is hard to achieve for even well established authors.Both Declan's and James's lives are in trouble but maybe a chance meeting will give them both an opportunity to inspire each other to greatness..... For me Glasgow is captured perfect in this book, it is not over the top with the no mean city stereotype or doesn’t romanticise places he just writes like it is, your slightly overbearing maw who loves you dearly but would boot your arse gladly. However, people like Richard Osman and now Kevin Bridges have convinced me that it is not always a bad thing. That some people's talents can move away from their day job into a new field and can be a success. This was such an enjoyable book. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Love Kev IN but this book is terrible. People want to like it because he is funny and likeable but it has virtually no plot.

Book review: The Black Dog, by Kevin Bridges - The Scotsman

It has some very good parts, sometimes I could not stop reading. Some great dialogue and small plot interests. Also some (but very little) very good humour. It’s understandable he might want to try a different persona as a writer. But the one he’s used comes across as self-indulgent and kinda dull. Like he’s trying too hard to show off his literary skills, and forgetting it’s story that readers want. The opening paragraphs are very much like that, and I was initially hesitant, however I found out the reason why and breathed a sigh of relief when I realised this was not throughout the whole book. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of f***ing b******s and c***s in this book however it did not come across as gratuitous but in line with typical Glaswegian humour and language. This may not translate well further than our shores but it worked for me.This book is a character lead novel,for sure, although the story/plot itself would still be good even without such well written characters the fact the characters are so well developed is a added bonus.