About the Book
Property might be theft. But the housing market is murder.
My name is Al. I live in wealthy people’s second homes while their real owners are away.
I don’t rob them, I don’t damage anything… I’m more an unofficial house-sitter than an actual criminal.
Life is good. Or it was – until last night, when my friends and I broke into the wrong place, on the wrong day, and someone wound up dead.
And now … now we’re in a great deal of trouble.
Format: Hardcover (464 pages) Publisher: Hutchinson Heinemann
Publication date: 25th April 2024 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Crime
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My Review
Al’s career as an ‘interloper’ has been governed by a set of self-imposed rules that have seen him successfully occupy a number of empty properties and leave without their owners ever knowing he was there – or so he thinks. However, a single breach of one of his rules – that he always works alone – proves a costly mistake, threatening to bring the whole edifice tumbling down. The location from which he’s writing his account of events is a sign of how badly things went wrong. (Think Kind Heart and Coronets but without the potential death sentence.)
Teaming up with three other ‘interlopers’ – Jonny and sisters, Em and Elle – Al’s persuaded they really need to discover the person responsible for the compromising position in which they find themselves. It turns out their situation is more precarious than they realised and there is potential danger from many directions, including the menacing individual they nickname Mr Bowling Ball. Soon Al, Jonny, Em and Elle find themselves in a world of financial shenanigans and international espionage. By the end of the book you may find yourself knowing more than you ever imagined about offshore trusts, unless of course you already possess one.
I loved technology wizard Jonny who’s almost umbilically connected to his laptop, has a wardrobe consisting solely of T-shirts with quirky slogans and who can secrete a microphone in the most unlikely places. Em and Elle I did find a little bit interchangeable although they both displayed a healthy dose of chutzpah.
Told in conversational style, Al’s self-deprecating humour runs through the book and there are some great puns. (You’d expect nothing less from an author who also writes jokes for a living.) My favourite was ‘The camera is going to ruin my life. I am literally Canon fodder.’ I also loved some of the set pieces such as when Em and Al brazenly crash the opening of a ultra hip boutique.
Al comes across as confident, even slightly cocky, and he can certainly create an intricate life story that’s almost completely untrue. However, as the book progresses we begin to appreciate that it’s a bit of a facade and that perhaps his ‘interloping’ isn’t as much a lifestyle choice as he’d like us to believe but the symptom of a rather rootless existence. But even when your luck seems to have finally run out, never underestimate the kindness of half an orange KitKat.
There’s a more serious aspect to the story as well. Al’s position mirrors that of many young people these days who find themselves homeless, not necessarily sleeping rough, but sofa-surfing or living with their parents because they cannot afford to rent or buy a home. Okay, so Al’s sofa-surfing is done on other people’s sofas without their knowledge but at least he’s careful not to leave any crumbs or move your favourite coaster. And, in case you weren’t aware of them before, the book introduces us to the existence of ‘poor doors’ and even ‘poor floors’.
Although the book didn’t have quite the outrageously audacious ending I was hoping for, A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering is a thoroughly entertaining crime caper and tremendous fun.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Penguin UK.
In three words: Funny, clever, fast-paced
Try something similar: The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
About the Author
Andrew Hunter Murray is a scriptwriter and fact-hunter for BBC2’s QI. He co-hosts the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish, which has had 200 downloads, and has toured the UK, Europe and Australia. He also writes jokes and journalism for Private Eye magazine, and hosts the Eye’s podcast, Page 94. (Photo: Goodreads author page)
Connect with Andrew
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