Viva La Madness

By JJ Connolly

J. J. Connolly the favorite voice of London gangster fiction returns with a tour de force: the Get Carter of the noughties, Layer Cake has also been made into a highly-praised film by Matthew Vaughn, starring Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller (it's also the most shoplifted book in England). Now Connolly is back with a sequel that sees him on the same stunning form, with his trademark razor-sharp dialogue and quick-fire violence, but also finding dark humor and pathos in the lives of violent men. From the London underworld, Viva la Madness moves to international crime with trans-Atlantic drug deals, money laundering, and high-tech electronic fraud, portrayed with the same uncanny believability. The anonymous hero of Layer Cake is pulled back into the drug game before he can escape to a sunny retirement. In a dazzling combination of London low-life, Caribbean high-life, and Venezuelan drug cartels toting machine-guns in Mayfair, our hero's voice and mission are authentic, thrilling, and whiplash-inducing in equal shares.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: May 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468301755

JJ Connolly

J. J. Connolly was born and brought up in north-east London. His first published story was in the Brit Pulp! anthology. He is the author of acclaimed bestseller Layer Cake, which he adapted into a film script for Sony Pictures and director Matthew Vaughn, starring Daniel Craig. Viva la Madness is his second novel.

Reviews for Viva La Madness

[willymammoth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was a good read, and I liked the author's ability with dialogue and the ability to spin a "story within a story." Great prose, a rambling crime story filled with memorable characters and a good bit of dark humor. For readers of "Layer Cake" (the prequel to this book), it will feel familiar, but a tad like a rehashing of what's come before. A good read from a talented author, but (if I remember correctly), not all that different than the original.

[kyriaw_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't get into this book! It is about a criminal from the UK who takes part in some shady stuff. The characters are kind of annoying and the book took a long time to get going. I kind of had to skim through the end to get through it.

[paulco_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun crime novel written in the person of a drug dealer with some scruples. He's just looking to get out, but finds it isn't easy to do. When old partners show up on his Caribbean island with piles of cash to launder, he finds himself back in. Once I got into the Brit slang, which predominates throughout the book, I found it entertaining. An interesting group of characters that keep popping up as the book moves on kept things interesting, and the many twists and turns as the lies and schemes compound made for a fairly fast read. Most likely I'll get the first book in the series to read, but this one has enough to stand alone. The first third or so of the book is heavier going, mostly as I picked up the slang, but it started moving after that, and will be one I'd recommend to someone who wants a little more meaty crime novel and is willing to learn as they go.

[lpg3d · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Viva La Madness by J.J. Connolly continues the tales of our anonymous protagonist from Layer Cake. Our nameless hero is lured from retirement in the Caribbean back to the drug trade in London. However, no one is telling the whole story and quickly things turn violent. Plots within plots within plots, ad infinitum. Not being British or in the criminal underground, a lot of the slang threw me initially, but most of the time it could be figured out by its context. This is a very fun, action packed book that is tough to put down.

[jolynnsbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A wild rollercoaster ride of a book through the international world of London gangsters/drug dealers. Action packed, filled with vivid characters, and more than a touch of delicious sarcastic humor. I felt like I was watching a great British crime film. For lovers of hard-boiled crime novels, British style. Warning - not for people easily offended by explicit language or behavior.

[dleona_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A riotous crime novel involving English/Irish gangsters, a Venezuelan drug cartel and a Brazilian death squad. Connolly mixes comedy with eruptions of violence to producing a book you simply cannot put down.

[datrappert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From the opening page, where the scene is dated 22nd August 2001, you know what event is going to play a part in the climax of this book--you just don't know how. To Connolly's immense credit, he keeps you guessing until the end. At times, he seems to be building up to something he can't possibly deliver. When other books are starting to tie up their loose ends, Connolly is introducing further complications. But unlike a previous book I received as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer, Tom Piccirilli's THE LAST KIND WORDS, where the author couldn't really manage all his plot threads, Connolly masterfully weaves them together into a satisfying conclusion.So, what's it about? A detailed plot summary would take pages and spoil the fun, but let's just say that pretty much every character in this book is a criminal, and they have very few scruples about how they make their money. These characters include British drug traffickers, a Venezuelan crime family looking to buy (or marry) its way to legitimacy, computer wizards for hire, crooked bankers--you name it. The book's narrator is a British criminal who has returned from hiding out incognito in Jamaica to take advantage of an opportunity to make a huge amount of money by facilitating heroin trades.Things go off course, however, when one of the narrator's old, untrusted acquaintances decides to steal a few suitcases of money from the black sheep nephew of the Venezuelan crime family. And believe me, you have to be seriously bent to be the black sheep of that family. That incident sets things in motion and they spiral almost out of control, with a series of shootings, double-crosses, dangerous meetings, and a dark cloud of greed overshadowing everything. The book is loud and fast and vulgar and dark, but at the same time it is a lot of fun to read as the author somehow makes it all work. Connolly has a great writing style, definitely giving us the English flavor and some of the lingo, but not requiring a dictionary to figure out. He creates memorable characters and has a great eye for detail in his descriptions and in keeping his plot threads on track. About the only shortcoming of the book is his tendency in two or three shootout scenes to go even more over the top and turn it into something reminiscent of one of those old A-Team shootouts where no one (or in this case, almost no one) actually gets hit. This was annoying, because despite how outrageous the entire story is, other than these scenes, Connolly does a great job of making everything seem believable.This book is a sequel, of sorts, to LAYER CAKE, which I haven't read. I know that the narrator comes from that other book, and I assume a few of the other characters do as well. I can tell you that it won't make any difference if you have read LAYER CAKE or not. This is totally self-contained. While I wouldn't be surprised to see a follow-up novel, Connolly doesn't do anything annoying at the end just to set up a sequel.Altogether, a superior effort by a very good writer.

[hippypaul_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second installment of J.J. Connolly’s depiction of the life and times of his nameless criminal protagonist. Instead of enjoying his hard earned retirement as chronicled in L4YER CAKE he finds himself caught up in a multi-continental mess that spins from South America to London. Despite some UK criminal argot that sent me fleeing to Urban Dictionary I really enjoyed this fine crime novel. There is a cross, then a double cross, then a --- well you get the idea. The plot turns come thick and fast. About the time the major players think they have themselves well on top of the pile, interruptions in the form of sniper fire come bursting in to announce the arrival of yet another player. The cast ranges from underground hackers to little old ladies who dispose of bodies as a sideline. Very few people are who they seem to be and those that are can be found in unlikely alliances with others. Through all the confusion the author moves the action along at a brisk and exciting pace. Everything takes place in a world of madness that somehow makes a terrible sense.I found this was a vastly enjoyable book and I greatly hope that Mr. Connolly continues his series and shows us further adventures of his nameless protagonist. A copy of this book was provided free for the purposes of this review.