Hmmm something about this book and myself simply did not mesh. I had it in my Netgalley queue for far too long and tried my best to give it a thorough read but life is too short and I had to throw in the towel at 50% and start to skim because I was bored. There are an abundance of positive reviews and reviews that find it tons of fun but unfortunately I won't be adding another one today.

I will say that I did enjoy the Spanky (gawd, why that name? OF ALL THE NAMES, WHY?!) daemon character. He had charm and an infectious wickedness but the rest of the book was told from the POV of a dullard named Martyn. And I didn't enjoy reading things from his brain. He was boring, and then when his luck begins to change thanks to his new daemon friend, he becomes super arrogant and his thoughts on women grated on every single one of my last nerves. I had to give it a pass when he takes his dream girl (who is way out of his league) out for a meal and muses to himself about how much food she "ferociously" ate. How she consumed far more calories than her slim body must require. He can go walk into the sun now.

This was written in the 90's and it does show its age pretty badly but I'm usually fine with that. This guy though was just far too bland and annoying to carry the story for me and I found none of it amusing so I quit because I have too many good books sitting here that I'll probably love and I'm far too short-tempered for a book that isn't doing it for me.

I only read half of it, and skipped around to see if it could engage me. When it didn't, I slammed it closed and called it a day. Two stars for the first half, I can't speak for the last half. Sorry, I'm a quitter.

I have been a fan of this author for some time. Love his Bryant and May series. I admit, I approached this with some trepidation. It won me over quickly. Who doesn’t love battles of good vs evil...especially within oneself?! I knew a reckoning was coming...and when it did, I couldn’t read fast enough.

This is great fun and Spanky is an appealing character, a modern Mephistopheles in a sharp suit.

I am fast becoming a fan of Christopher Fowler. Spanky is by far my favorite novel of his that I have read so far.
Martyn's life is not where he wants it to be in all areas possible so when he meets a new "friend" who happens to be a Spancialosaphus Lacrimosae demon his life changes for the better but there is one little problem: Spanky is a demon and nothing is ever for free with a demon.
I found the writing and situations tongue in cheek and hilarious and was reminded at times of one of my favorite movies, "Bedazzled".

Roofworld is an atmospheric book by Christopher Fowler following Robert and Rose, two unlikely heroes who are thrown together following the death of an author. Through a series of misadventures and a little detective work they discover a whole world above their heads on the London roof tops which is able to play out as no one actually looks up in London. This leads them to become involved in a war between two rival groups, one led by an enigmatic leader and the other an almost super villain with a lust for power. Throw in a feeling of adult lost boys from Peter Pan and mythology and you have an exciting and well-constructed adventure. All this is woven together with a down beat detective investigating the gory deaths of the victims of this rivalry. Definitely recommended. Also for those fans of Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Fowler explains in his introduction this was to be a film by the acclaimed director before he started on Blade 2.

A twist on the Faustian agreement, done with the humor and quirkiness that we expect from Mr. Fowler. It's a fast -paced read and an enjoyable one, both of which can be expected from this author. There's some gore and horror here that, while not AWFUL, is enough to be forewarned about. A hesitant recommend, this is good but so much of Mr. Fowler's work is better.

A masterful twist on the old Faustian legend done in a way that only Fowler can manage.

Christopher Fowler is a favorite author of mine, and never disappoints. In this modern take on the Faustian bargain, Martyn Ross gets every wish he thinks he wants, but can he pay the bill when it comes? An excellent take on comedy, horror, and 80s/90s greed, plus an ending I associate with Mr. Fowler. I don't want to give anything away, but it's not a happy ending, yet not a downer. If a human did have such a bargain and showdown with a daemon, it's probably quite realistic.

I loved it., but it quite put me off making a deal with any demon.

Review A comedic modern take on the Faustian pact updated to the 1980s. This was an amusing quick read. Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I thought I was giving it 4 stars at the start of the book, but at the end I could only give it 3.
The title bothered me from the beginning. In the US, Spanky is slang for masturbating, as well as being the name of one of the Little Rascals. So the title resonated with me in different ways than what the author probably meant. I thought the name wasn't as serious as the plot was.
Martyn was extremely annoying with very few redeeming qualities. Low-hanging fruit for Spanky. He was very annoying and shiny and I kind of wanted him to let Spanks take over and have some fun. I wished I could have liked him more. I liked the person he ended up finally becoming.though. And I really liked the illustration of Spanky's true form.
The author had a great sense of humor, though. It was reflected in both of them. I chuckled a lot.

Loved it. I'm a sucker for stories with a Sci-Fi twist that don't have cookie cutter happy endings.

Interesting take on the classic Faustian tale with a wicked twist at the end (no pun intended). I was unfamiliar with the author's work but thoroughly enjoyed the book. Recommended!!!

This is a Faustian tale of Martyn, a wet and miserable mildly depressed furniture salesman, who meets the mysterious Spanky who offers a deal to improve Martyn's life. The book is in two distinct parts, the fun and frivolous when all is going well and Martyn's life improves exponentially (the job, the girl, the car, the flat), and then the dark twisted part once Spanky seeks his repayment. This is when the horror escalates, and the gore is visceral and evocative, distinct from the earlier section set in the nightlife of 90s London.
There is a strong cast of side characters, including Martyn's conspiracy theorist stoner housemate and the underrated Lottie, and the plot is fast paced. By the time I reached the end, I was still unconvinced about Martyn's sanity. First off, I didn't like the title of the book or the main character's name. It seemed inconsistent with the book. 'Spanky' sounds a bit cheeky and naughty, whereas Spanky is definitely not. But my real misgiving with the book was the vile treatment of women by Spanky, which reduced my score down from 4 to 3 stars.
If you like Faustian pacts, 90s London, horror with a few laughs and people getting their comeuppances, check out Spanky.

What an entertaining read. The saying 'be careful what you wish for' definitely applies in this book. A solid, well written read that I enjoyed.

Set in the late eighties/ early nineties, the story revolves around Martyn & Spanky and their relationship. Martyn Ross is a regular guy with a mundane job and life. There is not much going on for him and for most parts he considers himself to be a loser. When Martyn meets Spanky, who insists that he is a daemon and offers to be his muse… Slowly Spanky becomes his friend and helps Martyn achieve his dreams and desire and change his life for good. However, Martyn soon realizes that this wasn’t a one-way deal and he has to pay Spanky for it soon.

The first thing that attracts the reader to this book is the element of Faustian Pact but with a twist. The second thing that stands out in the book is its dark humour. Together they give the book a solid base for the plot to play out with its characters. Martyn is partly naïve as is clear from his entering into the pact with no idea of what he must pay for it. However, it is quite easy to feel kindly towards him. Spanky on the other hand is the star of the story. He is devilishly charming and has a cunning mind.

There are moments in the book when you just cannot help but draw a parallel to our reality. For instance, the fact that nothing in life comes for free. It was a surprise to me as I picked up this book expecting it to be just another story. But the book turned out to be much more than that.

An entertaining read for a rainy evening.

I've never read Faust, but I have heard enough about it to know that Spanky takes from it and makes it funnier and a little silly at the beginning. I almost felt like this was going to be almost too silly to be taken seriously, until it really ramped up. Once I saw where it was headed, I really started to enjoy it. The contrast between the two themes of naivety and horror worked very well for this story, even though sometimes I had trouble reconciling the two. Honestly I would have enjoy more horror than the sex scenes, but that's just me, I think.

Sometimes I had trouble keeping track of all of the side characters, since they showed up so sporadically, but that might just be because I was far more interested in the main dynamic between Martyn and Spanky.

All in all, I really enjoyed it and would be interested in reading more by this author.

Christopher Fowler’s Spanky was apparently originally released in the mid 90’s, a fact that feels right, given its central theme of a man who feels that his life has gotten off track and been far from what he hoped for. That was in the zeitgeist in that time, a fact that shows up in so many films of the time (American Beauty, Magnolia, Fight Club, and so on), to say nothing of other books (again, Fight Club, but more notably, Susan Faludi’s Stiffed). And so, in its broad strokes, Spanky‘s idea to marry that male anxiety to a modern riff on Faust, as a twenty-something Briton named Martyn gets offered a chance to turn his life around by a daemon named Spanky? That’s nothing too surprising, in hindsight.

That being said, what makes Spanky so much fun is how it uses its supernatural elements, first with a sly sense of humor, and then for absolutely horrific effect. Spanky starts as typical male wish-fulfillment stuff, but the titular daemon makes for a wonderfully anarchic figure in the midst of it all, playing Tyler Durden to Martyn (in his foreword, Fowler remarks that Fight Club, which came out after this, definitely feels like it’s almost the same book). As Martyn goes through his image makeover, dives into family trauma, and tries to meet women, Fowler keeps everything darkly funny and engaging, letting Martyn’s unease with some of it poke holes in the potentially toxic worldview.

But it’s really the novel’s second half, where Fowler lets the horror side of the story run wild, where Spanky shines. Fowler sets some tough boundaries on Spanky’s abilities, which could easily rob the horrors of their punch. Instead, they only make it better, as Martyn – and the reader – aren’t just subjected to twisted creatures and brutal violence, but thrust into an increasingly unreliable reality where we’re never sure what’s actually happening. It’s a great final act for a wonderfully nasty, fun read, one that holds up even twenty years (!) after its original release. Hopefully its American release will find it a new audience that enjoys it as much as I did.

Spanky is a darkly humorous British take on a classic Faustian pact. Readers are introduced to Martyn, a naive classic loser with a dead end job, living with a junkie roommate, and dealing with being a member of a high dysfunctional family. Spanky, a daemon, enters Martyn's life and makes him an offer he can't refuse to make some much needed improvements to his life. Martyn goes about enjoying this new life and, eventually, finds out the twist. The interactions between Spanky and Martyn provide good dark, humor. The author did paint some pretty graphic and violent scenes. There were lots of references to living in Britain during the 1990s. I found Martyn pretty annoying as a main character. His character development was lacking and he was very predictable at times. I liked the writing pace in general, but found the ending to be a little rushed.

Deals with devil never work well. Been there- done that.