It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that papercuts are the most devious and painful of cuts. They don’t look like much but boy, oh, boy, do those little suckers sting.

‘Papercuts' by Colin Bateman was very much like a papercut. There was nothing overtly dramatic about it, but it got under my skin. The characters became like friends to me. The stories kept me reading. The cover made me feel bright and happy.

I fell in love with the characters immediately. Their lives were not extraordinary, but they were well-written and interesting and they made me care about everything that happened to them. I wanted to see them develop as individuals, but loved that they began to gel as a team. Even the characters that you weren't really supposed to like, I liked for the depth they added to the cast.

I read that this novel was actually written as 8 individual stories and then pieced together. I didn't know this at the time, but I thought throughout that the constant flow of events and characters related to each news story really broke up the overarching plots and kept my interest throughout.

Really cannot wait to see if this one is continued.

Comical newspaper-set multi-stranded story.

Amusing enough as I listened, it's one that won't really stick with me. Took a while to concentrate on the several characters as well, but that's the perennial problem with audiobooks.

At a failing newspaper, the Bangor Express, the owner brings in a professional journalist to see if he can find ways to improve things, even if it means cutting jobs.

We get to know several people who work at the paper, and through them some of their stories and attempts to prop up their livelihoods. It did blend a little for me in the middle as I tried to keep characters and stories separate.

Some interesting people, some intriguing stories. I've enjoyed other Bateman books more though, and I would say that this particular story would work better on paper.

quite different from a normal bateman which introduces a central conflict on page 1 that will permeate the entire story and sees it through all the way to the end. this is very much just about the ins and outs of small newsroom culminating in the 'story of a lifetime' that begins in the last 15% of the book. not sure which approach i like more.

Decent read. Thought this would be focusing on one big mystery for the story, but each chapter focuses on a different story. Feels like a collection of novellas instead of a novel. Ending was abrupt, with several subplots, actually, even the main, overarching story feels unresolved.

I have always enjoyed Colin Bateman's writing and had pre-ordered this latest book without knowing anything about it. It appears to have been published previously as 8 individual volumes, each containing a stand-alone story based on the same characters, the owner and employees of a local weekly newspaper set in Bangor, Co. Down. It took a long time for me to warm to the characters, in fact if it had been a writer I was unfamiliar with I would have given up halfway through the first story, but gradually they all came to life and felt like family. It does feel a little disjointed because of the stand alone nature of the 8 stories, and it is nowhere near as good as his best work, there are more wry smiles raised than the actual belly laughs of the Mystery Men books, and the overuse of the word "gotten" really grates, but it is still a wonderful read.

Feels like it should be a channel 4 miniseries.