Paul Murray is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2003 and is published by Penguin. Skippy Dies is his second novel.
Murray's writing has earned a place in the contemporary international canon . . . Murray's characters are so three-dimensionally drawn and brought to such vivid life that they may haunt your dreams * Irish Independent * A comic epic. Murray is a brilliant comic writer, but also humane and touching, and he captures the misery and elation, joy and anxiety of teenage life. A brilliant depiction of the heaven and hell of male adolescence -- David Nicholls * Guardian * Extravagantly entertaining * New York Times Book Review * Skippy Dies is one great high-octane fizz bang of a book -- Patrick McCabe * Irish Times * I loved Skippy Dies . . . three novels fused into one ignited tragicomic tour de force -- Ali Smith * Times Literary Supplement * Novels rarely come as funny and as moving as this utterly brilliant exploration of teenhood and the anticlimax of becoming an adult . . . Skippy Dies is intuitive, truthful and one of the finest comic novels written anywhere. Dies? Never! Skippy lives -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times * Hilarious, heartbreaking, totally engrossing. A triumph * Daily Mail * Ambitious, wise, funny, fiercely intelligent. The beauty of this cynical, hopeful, beautifully written book is that it builds a detailed world to explore life, the universe and everything * Sunday Express * Darkly comic, dazzles, every line drips ideas for fun. Unputdownably funny, captivating. A masterpiece * Metro * One of the most enjoyable, funny and moving reads of this year. A rare tragicomedy that's both genuinely tragic and genuinely comic * Guardian * Savagely funny, brimful of wit, energy, poetry and vision, unflaggingly entertaining. A triumph * Sunday Times *