Blog Tour Review – The Fuck-It List by John Niven @RandomThingsTours

Welcome to Dark Reads stop in the Blog tour for The F*ck It List by John Niven. Many thanks to Ann @Ramdom Things Tours and the publishers for inviting me to take part in the Tour.

About The Book

Set in a near-future America, an America that has borne two terms of Trump Presidency and is now in the first term of Donald’s daughter as president, Frank Brill, a retired small-town newspaper editor, lives in a world where the populist policies Trump is currently so keen to pursue have been a reality for some years and are getting even more extreme – an erosion of abortion rights, less and less gun control, xenophobic immigration policies.

Frank, a good man, has just been given a terminal diagnosis. Rather than compile a bucket list of all the things he’s ever wanted to do in his life, he instead has at the ready his ‘fuck-it list’. Because Frank has had to endure more than his fair share of personal misfortune. And he has the names of those who are to blame for the tragedies that have befallen him.

But eventually, as he becomes more accustomed to dishing out cold revenge and the stakes get higher and higher, and with a rogue county sheriff on his tail, there only remains one name left at the bottom of his fuck-it list.

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Heinemann (26 Mar. 2020)
• ISBN-10: 0434023272
• ISBN-13: 978-0434023271

Grab yourself a copy here

Dark Reads Review

This is going to be a difficult one to review without spoiling so I will keep it fairly brief.

I would describe The Fuck It List as Satirical revenge story. Set in the Near future, with the Trumps still in the White House. Immigration laws have become awful and gun laws relaxed to the extreme, our main character Frank is living in a rather unsavoury society.

Frank seems to have been unlucky throughout his life and has just received a terminal diagnosis which leaves him with a fuck it kinda attitude. Rather than making a list of things he would love to see and do before he dies, he decides to make of list of those who have devastated his life in one way or another, who he would like to pay a final visit to. The most dangerous people are the ones that have nothing left to loose after all.

Frank and his story reminded me of a cross between Walter White and Arya Stark.

The Fuck It List was well written with really nice dark humour running all the way through. The story is told from Franks inner monologue and flashbacks to various times in his life. This gave a really good insight and understanding of his choices. Having said that I really struggled to connect with him as a character which made me feel a little less invested, I’m not sure why, I felt that I really should have been more invested in Frank, I guess sometimes things just don’t click.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, a dark and disturbing tale of revenge, it is my first John Niven read and I am very interested to read more from him. Would definitely be one to recommend for those who enjoy crime thrillers with dark wit throughout.

About The Author

John Niven was born in Irvine, Ayrshire. He is the author of the novella Music from the Big Pink and the novels Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, The Second Coming, Cold Hands, Straight White Male, The Sunshine Cruise Company, No Good Deed and Kill ‘Em All.

Be Sure to check out the other wonderful bloggers on the Tour!