One Man Down by Alex Pearl #OneManDown @AlexBPearl @Roundfirebooks @alexbpearl.bsky.social‬ #BookReview

 

The tale of a stumped policeman, a third man, and a well-placed shot. 

It’s 1984. Princess Diana has just given birth to her second child. 

The legendary comic Tommy Cooper has died on stage (quite literally). 

And Angus Lovejoy and Brian Finkle are gloriously oblivious to it all as they strive to enthral the nation with their television commercials for the advertising agency Gordon Deedes Rutter. 

But all is not as rosy as it might seem in the frenetic world of Soho. 

Following a disastrous presentation to a manufacturer of diarrhoea tablets, Lovejoy and Finkle let off steam by playing cricket for an old school friend - but in doing so, stumble upon a nest of vipers involving a gay vicar, a small-time antique fraudster, a photographer, and blackmail. 

There can only be one outcome and it’s going to entail murder.

One Man Down by Alex Pearl was published on 25 February 2025 by Roundfire Books. My thanks to the author who sent my copy for review. 

I wouldn't say that I'm the target audience for this novel, and I'll stick my neck out and say that it will probably appeal more to male readers than female. Am I allowed to say that? Well, the book is set in the non-politically correct 1980s, in the world of advertising, so even if my comment is not allowed, it really fits in with the novel! 

It's a short book at less than two hundred pages and I read this in just a couple of sittings. It is one of those books that is filled with character so finely created, who get themselves into predicaments that you really need to know about with fabulous touches of humour and a sense of familiarity for those of us of a certain age. 

Whilst I did not work in advertising, I spent my fair share of time in offices in the 1980s and Alex Pearl transported me back there wonderfully!  Before the internet, before mobile phones, when we used filofaxes and strange sounding telex machines .... it's really well done. 

Angus Lovejoy and Brian Finkle work for the Gordon Deedes Rutter advertising agency. The hilarious opening of the story tells of their disastrous presentation to Gary Dixon, the manufacturer of diarrhoea tablets!  To try to forget all about it, they decide to get involved in a cricket match arranged by an old school friend. This is where all the fun begins ..... blackmail, fraud and murder are all involved. 

I really enjoyed my outing with Angus and Brian. The 1980s cultural references were great and for someone who lived through those times, it adds such authenticity to the story. There are themes of friendship and finding yourself running throughout which adds depth but doesn't take away from the excellent plotting and superb characters. 

I would certainly read more from Alex Pear. Recommended 

Alex's first novel 'Sleeping with the Blackbirds', a darkly humorous urban fantasy, written for children and young adults, was initially published by PenPress in 2011. It was longlisted by the Millennium Book Awards 2018 and selected by the Indie Author Project in 2019 for distribution to public libraries across the US and Canada. 

In 2014, his fictionalised account of the first British serviceman to be executed for cowardice during the First World War was published by Mardibooks in its anthology, 'The Clock Struck War'. 

In 2019, his psychological thriller, 'The Chair Man', which is set in London in 2005 following the terrorist attack on its public transport system, was published by Fizgig Press in 2020, and was a Finalist in the 2021 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. 

During the Covid epidemic, Alex conducted 100 author interviews online in an attempt to delve into the backgrounds, motivations and working methods of authors across the globe. These interviews were published in 2022 under the title '100 Ways to Write a Book', and all author proceeds are being donated to PEN International. 

'A Brand to Die For' is his first comic murder mystery set in the London advertising world of 1983 and introduces readers to two unlikely and hapless protagonists, Angus Lovejoy and Brian Finkle. It is, in fact, the first murder mystery set in a London advertising agency since Dorothy L. Sayers penned 'Murder Must Advertise' back in 1933. His sequel, 'One Man Down', is published by Roundfire Books.

Alex lives in NW London with his wife and two children who are far smarter than their old man.

He is quite possibly the only human being on this planet to have been inadvertently locked in a record shop on Christmas Eve.