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In Loco Parentis
Joe Campion is the kind of teacher any child would want for their class. He's also the kind of teacher who never turns down a drink, a smoke or a lay.
When Joe finds out some of his students are suffering abuse, he doesn't trust the system to take care of it. His impulsive nature, dedication to his pupils and love of women lead him on a long, strange and bloody trip.
When Joe finds out some of his students are suffering abuse, he doesn't trust the system to take care of it. His impulsive nature, dedication to his pupils and love of women lead him on a long, strange and bloody trip.
233 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2012
10 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Nigel Bird
48Ìýbooks74ÌýfollowersNigel Bird is the author of the Rat Pack series, The Shallows, the Southsiders series, In Loco Parentis, Smoke, Mr Suit and Dirty Old Town as well as a number of other novels, novellas and collections.
His work has appeared in a number of prestigious magazines and collections, including 2 editions of The Best Of British Crime,The Reader, Crimespree and Needle.
He is currently an editorial consultant for the publisher All Due Respect books.
He lives on the East Coast of Scotland in Dunbar (Sunny Dunny) with his wife and three children.
As well as writing fiction, he has been a teacher for thirty years and has worked in a number of mainstream and special schools.
His work has appeared in a number of prestigious magazines and collections, including 2 editions of The Best Of British Crime,The Reader, Crimespree and Needle.
He is currently an editorial consultant for the publisher All Due Respect books.
He lives on the East Coast of Scotland in Dunbar (Sunny Dunny) with his wife and three children.
As well as writing fiction, he has been a teacher for thirty years and has worked in a number of mainstream and special schools.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 28, 2013
Life has awkward disjointed moments. One moment you're doing fine, walking along and then suddenly something hits you between the eyes. A surprise, a bolt out of the blue and always, ALWAYS when you least expect it. Those moments, the pivotal points where things go from being ok to a disaster are the best way I can describe the events in this novel.
Joe works as a teacher and whilst we'd hope that he would be a well adjusted person that's not the case. Life has conspired against him. Perhaps it was the loss of his parents? He's trying to work through things in therapy but it seems hopeless. His affair with a married woman isn't helping matters. His lost love up in Preston is another added complication. Joe's life is out of control and his decisions are rash, careless and even dangerous.
Nigel Bird puts power in his words and, to use a cliche, we watch as Joe's life spirals out of control. I found this a gripping read and if I'm honest I can't exactly put my finger on why. It flows, it's well written. There are moments of happiness, of sex and joy but these are brief glimpses. At times Bird's writing is terrifically descriptive and it captures your imagination easily. A dark story that will not be to the tastes of all but if you have any interest in human relationships and the darkness that lies just behind the everyday minutiae then you'll enjoy this novel.
Joe works as a teacher and whilst we'd hope that he would be a well adjusted person that's not the case. Life has conspired against him. Perhaps it was the loss of his parents? He's trying to work through things in therapy but it seems hopeless. His affair with a married woman isn't helping matters. His lost love up in Preston is another added complication. Joe's life is out of control and his decisions are rash, careless and even dangerous.
Nigel Bird puts power in his words and, to use a cliche, we watch as Joe's life spirals out of control. I found this a gripping read and if I'm honest I can't exactly put my finger on why. It flows, it's well written. There are moments of happiness, of sex and joy but these are brief glimpses. At times Bird's writing is terrifically descriptive and it captures your imagination easily. A dark story that will not be to the tastes of all but if you have any interest in human relationships and the darkness that lies just behind the everyday minutiae then you'll enjoy this novel.
September 29, 2012
Another great read from Mr Bird. Currnetly all I can read on my Binatone at the moment cos nothing else comes up to his writing. Don't expect to meet any nice characters though.
August 7, 2021
Nigel Bird, U OK, hun?
Your main character, JC, certainly isn't. A primary school teacher with an identity crisis, JC sees himself as a swaggering, roguish, latter day Don Juan, snorting, smoking and shagging during school holidays. Don Juan is an apt anachronistic comparison as JC talks like your parents, or a man who has never met a woman, let alone gained access to the pants of many.
Have I embraced middle age to the point of feeling tired even on reading about people being wasted? That wasn't it. Reckon I'd still find Party Monster a cracking read, though may have to stop for a rest part way through. Is this satire? I further wondered. Looking at some reviews gave me an alienated feeling: the feeling when something is popular and I not only dislike it but feel actively uncomfortable. Example: Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. This book is noir, apparently.
I don't mock people's choices any more, I think that is obnoxious behaviour. This is a book I would have mocked in my twenties.
We all have words we don't like, right? Words that produce a strong visceral reaction. MIne is the word funky when not applied to music. it makes me cringe and feel sick. Therefore , the main character finding a blue cagoule on the floor of a club and putting it on and telling this unprepared reader he felt 'cool and funky' was aaaargh.
I carried on to a seduction scene:
Stop it with the words, my lips are getting cold.'
Warming her lips becomes my favourite pastime.
Five more pages and our gunslinger talks about the children he teaches
'Problem is, they're my guys. It's me who's supposed to be the real hero.'
One of his paramours ..' arrives like a whirlwind in a size 8 dress' and
'bounces in and lights up my life like the summer sun.'
My phone told me I'd read 161 pages out of 532. I'd call that a fair chance, I thought,before pressing the Return button.
Your main character, JC, certainly isn't. A primary school teacher with an identity crisis, JC sees himself as a swaggering, roguish, latter day Don Juan, snorting, smoking and shagging during school holidays. Don Juan is an apt anachronistic comparison as JC talks like your parents, or a man who has never met a woman, let alone gained access to the pants of many.
Have I embraced middle age to the point of feeling tired even on reading about people being wasted? That wasn't it. Reckon I'd still find Party Monster a cracking read, though may have to stop for a rest part way through. Is this satire? I further wondered. Looking at some reviews gave me an alienated feeling: the feeling when something is popular and I not only dislike it but feel actively uncomfortable. Example: Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. This book is noir, apparently.
I don't mock people's choices any more, I think that is obnoxious behaviour. This is a book I would have mocked in my twenties.
We all have words we don't like, right? Words that produce a strong visceral reaction. MIne is the word funky when not applied to music. it makes me cringe and feel sick. Therefore , the main character finding a blue cagoule on the floor of a club and putting it on and telling this unprepared reader he felt 'cool and funky' was aaaargh.
I carried on to a seduction scene:
Stop it with the words, my lips are getting cold.'
Warming her lips becomes my favourite pastime.
Five more pages and our gunslinger talks about the children he teaches
'Problem is, they're my guys. It's me who's supposed to be the real hero.'
One of his paramours ..' arrives like a whirlwind in a size 8 dress' and
'bounces in and lights up my life like the summer sun.'
My phone told me I'd read 161 pages out of 532. I'd call that a fair chance, I thought,before pressing the Return button.
September 23, 2012
I did enjoy reading this book, it was fast-paced and not too much of a challenge to get through. It only took me about two days to read the whole thing. However I felt really disconnected from the story and the characters as for a while I didn't have a clue what was going on, and the writing felt quite impersonal. It felt like the book was missing a first and last chapter, as none of the characters were introduced fully and it ended very abruptly.
Throughout the story there were quite a few 'shocking' moments and twists but these weren't described in much depth and were over quite quickly which made it hard to get the full effect of the drama.
I also found it hard to get used to the language as the author uses a lot of contractions and misses off some pronouns from the beginning of the sentences. After a while I managed to adjust to this and I feel it helped give the book its 'style' but if this kind of English annoys you I wouldn't recommend it!
Overall I think if this storyline had been written in a different way with more description and more depth I would have enjoyed it more, but of course that's just how I like my books, and I can see why people might prefer this style of writing.
Throughout the story there were quite a few 'shocking' moments and twists but these weren't described in much depth and were over quite quickly which made it hard to get the full effect of the drama.
I also found it hard to get used to the language as the author uses a lot of contractions and misses off some pronouns from the beginning of the sentences. After a while I managed to adjust to this and I feel it helped give the book its 'style' but if this kind of English annoys you I wouldn't recommend it!
Overall I think if this storyline had been written in a different way with more description and more depth I would have enjoyed it more, but of course that's just how I like my books, and I can see why people might prefer this style of writing.
September 12, 2012
Nigel Bird knows how to get the most effect out of the fewest words. In this story Joe is a teacher who is very protective of his young students. There is a hint that he may have been abused as a child. His private life is complicated since he is having an affair with the married mother of one of his pupils but is in love with his stepsister. A down-on-his-luck friend moves in with him and complicates his life still further. Joe is outraged when some of his students are hurt and his higher ups do nothing. Is it the time to take matters into his own hands?
May 22, 2012
Great read.
February 17, 2024
Teacher Joe Campion enjoys his job, his women & his recreational drugs. When he watches a fellow teacher slap one of his charges, he reports it - but it doesn’t result in the outcome he feels is appropriate, he chooses a different option.
If I’m honest I’m not quite sure what to make of the book. The larger parts of the story relating to everything barring the students is slightly reminiscent of A Kind of Loving. A Taste of Honey genre, but with the other elements added into the mix, it’s neither one thing or the other. This is the first book I’ve read by Nigel Bird. I’m afraid I won’t be rushing out for any more.
If I’m honest I’m not quite sure what to make of the book. The larger parts of the story relating to everything barring the students is slightly reminiscent of A Kind of Loving. A Taste of Honey genre, but with the other elements added into the mix, it’s neither one thing or the other. This is the first book I’ve read by Nigel Bird. I’m afraid I won’t be rushing out for any more.
January 20, 2020
I found the start of this book rather tedious, however as the story got darker it had some direction and became much more interesting.
June 13, 2013
"In Loco Parentis" offers a distinctive strain of black comedy. When I read Nigel Bird's short stories, what struck me was his ability to shift between sadness, humor, and violence. This tough-to-manage blend is on full display again in his novel. Joe is an anti-hero. His life is constantly teetering on the brink of chaos. He does some appalling things. Yet I still found myself pulling for him because he does possess a streak of goodness...his conscience won't let him alone.
I consider Bird to be an heir to a British literary tradition: the works of Alan Sillitoe, John Braine, and others from the late 1950s and early '60s. After Sillitoe died in 2010, there was a very good column in the UK's Daily Telegraph about how these authors were disparate. The term "movement" and the "Angry Young Men" label it wore weren't really all that applicable. But they -- and this book -- have things in common. They feature young anti-heroes who clash with staid society. Northern England provides a gritty backdrop (though it's not the main location here). And amid the bleakness, there are scenes that make one laugh out loud. The way Joe gets into so many horrible entanglements, and somehow tiptoes out of them, was like a demented version of "Lucky Jim". (Kingsley Amis was another one of those anti-British-establishment authors.)
But enough of that comparison, because In Loco Parentis has its own style: Nigel Bird's style.
I consider Bird to be an heir to a British literary tradition: the works of Alan Sillitoe, John Braine, and others from the late 1950s and early '60s. After Sillitoe died in 2010, there was a very good column in the UK's Daily Telegraph about how these authors were disparate. The term "movement" and the "Angry Young Men" label it wore weren't really all that applicable. But they -- and this book -- have things in common. They feature young anti-heroes who clash with staid society. Northern England provides a gritty backdrop (though it's not the main location here). And amid the bleakness, there are scenes that make one laugh out loud. The way Joe gets into so many horrible entanglements, and somehow tiptoes out of them, was like a demented version of "Lucky Jim". (Kingsley Amis was another one of those anti-British-establishment authors.)
But enough of that comparison, because In Loco Parentis has its own style: Nigel Bird's style.
September 23, 2012
I found myself quite ambivalent about this book. The style is good - a first person narrative that just rolls along in a very natural, internal monologue.
But that was part of the problem. The pace hardly changed - whether when dealing with things that were actually extremely serious, the inevitable consequences of a heavy night out or the smell of a flatmate's socks.
I also thought it lacked back story. There were things hinted at that were never explained. We also had a series of visits to a psychiatrist that initially seemed interesting but eventually ended up adding nothing to the story - principally because they were so short and there was never any real input from the shrink.
Others may well enjoy this book. By the end, though, I was rather disappointed.
But that was part of the problem. The pace hardly changed - whether when dealing with things that were actually extremely serious, the inevitable consequences of a heavy night out or the smell of a flatmate's socks.
I also thought it lacked back story. There were things hinted at that were never explained. We also had a series of visits to a psychiatrist that initially seemed interesting but eventually ended up adding nothing to the story - principally because they were so short and there was never any real input from the shrink.
Others may well enjoy this book. By the end, though, I was rather disappointed.
May 4, 2014
I first came across the author Nigel Bird in the ebook anthology True Brit Grit. Being curious I decided to investigate more of his work. In Loco Parentis is a fast flowing story following a humble primary school teacher who leads a complicated love life, unable to commit to any one person. He falls into a twisted heap of trouble as one mistake leads to another and before you know it murder has been committed. During the course of the novel we get to see how the protagonist really cares for the young children he teaches. It's clear to see that Nigel Bird has teaching experience with an excellent knowledge of his subject matter. His feel for the central character really shines through. To summarise this is a very readable story mixing love, lust and teaching with murder! Enjoy.
December 30, 2012
Not really my sort of book. Initially I thought it was going to end up joining the very select ranks of unfinished books in my pile (I have this thing about finishing what I start so it takes a lot - or perhaps the lack of a lot! - to make me stop before the end), however it picked up in the middle, so I persevered. The hero/narrator was, on the whole, a total mess, with the odd glimmer of humanity surrounding his concern for the children in his care. It was readable and in parts well put together but the back story was never really resolved and so my questions about how he ended up as he was were left unanswered.
November 19, 2012
Being from the US, I had a bit of a problem understanding the English "English". but after awhile I started to use my own interpretation. Then it became alot easier to read. Good story, but I don't see how some of the murder scenarios resulted in no suspicions. Do the bobbies ever catch a bad guy? After all, Joe had to be a prime suspect,even if he didn't commit them all.
April 17, 2013
hmmm what to say? It was very dark and the narrative was disjointed, never really got a feel for the character or his friends, he's obviously having some sort of breakdown brought on by a trauma in his past (that is hinted at but not revealed) and drug abuse. Readable but not really my cup of tea...
December 11, 2016
Good story, but I just didn't care for it.
Although it did make me glad I am not a primary school teacher.
Although it did make me glad I am not a primary school teacher.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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