Emerald Gems of Ireland

In his latest novel, the author of The Butcher Boy returns to his specialty — the quirky tale of murder, with the story of Pat McNab, a poor soul so emasculated by his overbearing mum (she won't let him, at the age of 45, sing in a band or wear Ray-Bans) that he has no choice but to hit her over the head with a frying pan. Others in his small Irish town soon meet the same fate as McNab transforms into a clumsy, dorky serial killer (or not — McCabe hints that he is imagining the whole thing). While Germs starts with promising macabre silliness, McCabe isn't able to sustain the joke, and even the mind of a murderous putz loses the ability to surprise.