"On the table by the door, you'll find the hood and the earplugs. Once you're completely naked, you put in the earplugs and put on the hood. Make sure you can't see or hear a thing. Don't even think about cheating, because I'll know. If you cheat, you're out. If you leave any clothes on, you're out. If you do anything wrong, you're out. Understood?"

"Yes," he said weakly. "But what ... what then?"

There came the throaty laugh again. "Then, you leave it all to me," she said. "And we have ourselves some fun."

It all kicks off with a bizarre string of S & M style suicides at Butchers, a top notch bank and fodder-filled dream for tabloid hacks. As the City boys roll up their sleeves to track down the rogue trader they believe has brought the bank to its proverbial knees and police investigations into all the dodgy dealings draw a blank, old boy Toby Slaker--a man whose own dull little neck is soon to be firmly on the line--decides to liven up his life a little with a series of blind (literally!) dates with the Minx, internet lover extraordinaire.

But as the truth of the whole sordid affair gradually begins to dawn and Slaker, with the help of a seemingly deeply dippy, dope-smoking private detective, discovers that his own saucy sexual shenanigans may have something to do with the plot to raze Butchers to the ground, all hell breaks loose and the truth begins to out.

The Butchers Ball is an exhilarating, sleazy and downright rude novel which proffers a merciless take on an age old institution by pitting the modern day fetishes of money, sex and take- over bids against the backdrop of a revered and crumbling establishment.

If you are of a nervous disposition and like your sex and scandal a little more sanitised, then leave this on the shelf. But if you are a sucker for the barefaced, the brassy and the Tom Sharpe-esque then Cohen's latest is a must-have. --Susan Harrison

Readers of his previous novel, Brass Monkeys, will recognise the style and welcome the return of characters such as Will Cloud, the pot-smoking Irish detective, and populist television presenter Candida Blitz. Workmates are no doubt having great fun working out who's based on whom. New readers will enjoy The Butchers' Ball on its own merits, and for its fond evocations of City life, past and present.

Mark B Cohen is the latest in a growing line of City of London-based financial careerists to produce a work of fiction that probably pales by comparison with reality. Certain passages capture perfectly the nostalgia that some of us still feel for the good old days in the City.

Cohen compares and contrasts the old ways and the new ways, highlighting deftly the attractions and drawbacks of each. Some of the similes are a touch laboured for my personal liking, but the writer does produce a number of phrases and metaphors to be proud of. "When I arrived, that department wasn't even washing its face. Now it's cleaning its ... teeth and tucking itself up in bed for the night," for example, from Butchers Bank's hard-assed managing director Greg Kurdell. The passages relating to the Hoodwink Encounters website are especially enjoyable, and show the writer has done his research thoroughly.

The Butchers' Ball will help assuage the pain of commuting, or go some way to getting the reader through an interminable meeting or two. An interesting and often enjoyable romp. Brian Bollen.


Relentless comedy whodunnit   December 20, 1999
This book starts with a punch and never lets up. It has wit, sharp satire and constant action, and it is hard to put the book down. The chapters tend to focus on an individual character, and then at the end weaves them all together very cleverly. There are a couple of holes in the plot that I didn't quite follow, but overall this book is a tight, funny and attention-grabbing portrait of the life in the 'City'. Highly recommended.


Brilliant!!   November 10, 1999
I really enjoyed Cohen's first book, Brass Monkeys, but The Butchers' Ball topped it. Hilarious send-ups of everything you care to imagine, and then some! Lots of kinky sex, but all in tongue in cheek. And a great mystery story with a most satisfying suprise ending. Whole thing's a kind of mixture of Tom Sharpe and Agatha Christie - great escapist fun and not to be missed.


An outragously funny romp thru' the darker side of the City   October 28, 1999
This is one funny book!!! I thoroughly enjoyed every page of Mark Cohen's second novel: The Butcher's Ball. Cohen creates a delightful mixture of suspense and outrageous humour, which he brilliantly maintains throughout the novel. This comical tour de force transverses the most unlikely areas including: merchant banking; internet sex; a rogue trader; a candid television game show; murder and a virtual femme fatale which makes Lara Croft look like Pollyanna. I've always had my suspicions as to what shenanigans go on behind those merchant bank walls and Cohen provides much witty insight into the darker side of high finance. To my own surprise, I caught myself laughing out loud and was kept intrigued by its many twists, right up to the end! A must read !!!!!


Brilliant!!   September 27, 1999
I really enjoyed Cohen's first book, Brass Monkeys, but The Butchers' Ball topped it. Hilarious send-ups of everything you care to imagine, and then some! Lots of kinky sex, but all in tongue in cheek. And a great mystery story with a most satisfying suprise ending. Whole thing's a kind of mixture of Tom Sharpe and Agatha Christie - great escapist fun and not to be missed.