Book Review: Hell of a Salesman by Timothy Brooks

This book was described to me as a comic memoir, fictionalised (to protect the innocent?), of the author's time working in recruitment in London.  As an "an accurate depiction, and searing indictment, of life in a modern sales company" I was interested to see whether sales work was really as tough as I've always imagined it to be.

Tim has completed university, worked a few jobs and decided it is time to knuckle down and earn some serious money. He decides a sales job is the best way to achieve that goal and starts looking for a job. The book takes us on his journey through torturous interview to his new job at Haywood Fryston and follows his career as he progresses as a salesman. The book presents a picture of a testosterone filled, demanding environment where to be successful you probably need to check your conscience at the door.

Told in the first person from Tim's viewpoint I found him an amusing narrator and warmed to him and his honesty. Some of the characters are truly odious but no doubt not uncommon in the circles the book is set in. I also really felt for poor new boy Jerry. Parts had me chuckling, especially the daft sayings of the managers, but behind it all is a tale of morality and it is more than just an amusing memoir. While it did end at a point where he had a bit of an epiphany, at the end of Tim's first year of a three year stint, I found the ending a little bit abrupt and was hoping for more.

I found this book really enjoyable, and found myself racing through it and staying up late to read "just a bit more" Let it serve as a cautionary note to anyone who thinks there is easy money to be made in sales!

Format: Kindle, review copy
My Rating: 4*

Review: Boomerang by Alan Hutcheson

I've been reading a lot of thrillers and murder mysteries so fancying a change and something humourous I thought I would give this, which has received some very good reviews on Amazon, a try. Boomerang is an out and out comedy caper filled with a cast of dysfunctional characters. They are all trying to get their hands on a boomerang containing secrets dating back to the time of J Edgar Hoover. We have Ted and Jerry, reluctant partners who take on the job from an obscure covert agency just for the money. Doreen's son had the boomerang and was meant to have made serious money for passing it on, but botched the job and now she, accompanied by sister Amelia, is crossing the globe to retrieve it, followed by a cross-bow wielding albino assassin. Then there's Bethie, the former cheerleader who wants to avenge a wrong inflicted on her great-grandad.

The story is told from a host of viewpoints, including that of a dog, yet somehow the author manages to ensure they all receive enough attention, putting plenty of flesh on the bones of the various characters (and believe me the ones above aren't the extent of it) The under-employed employees of AABC were particularly amusing, I could just imagine their situation is probably too close for comfort to some government departments.

It was definitely a laugh out loud book at points, although it didn't have me in stitches in the way say a Ben Elton book often does. I liked the narrative style and despite the number of characters and everything going on never felt like I was struggling to keep up with who was who, or what they were doing and why. This is a book I really liked, good fun and light-hearted, and another Kindle 72p bargain.