An original idea - not many of them these days - and a very entertaining read. The narrator is likeable, and despite him breaking and entering peoples houses you can't help but warm to him. The story is a fast paced page turner - a perfect holiday read, or for someone who has trouble getting into books. You are taken straight into the action, no tedious descriptions of why our narrator took up a life of breaking and entering.

Al is a very likeable 'interloper'. He moves into luxury homes and 'squats'. He never steals, he repairs any damage he causes and is a thoroughly likeable character who is a loner. Then Al meets Em, Elle and Jonny and his problems begin.
Is this story implausible? Probably!
Is it entertaining? Definitely. Many laugh-out-loud moments. I loved it!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Andrew Hunter Murray/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Al (not his real name) calls himself an ‘interloper’ – an uninvited house sitter who breaks into the luxury homes of the rich when they are away for work or on vacation and makes himself at home. He’s being doing this on his own successfully for eight years and has saved himself a lot of rent while enjoying living at the very best addresses. He considers himself to be a professional and is meticulously careful to follow the list of rules he has made for himself, particularly not drawing attention to himself while staying there and leaving the house exactly as he found it. He has never had a problem - until now.

A miscalculation sends Al fleeing from a house just as he is on the verge of settling in and that’s when his problems begin. At the safety bolt-hole that he runs to, he comes across sisters Em and Elle and computer hacker Jonny already is residence. The three of them also like to stay uninvited in vacant properties and, being curious that their methods are different to his, Al agrees to go along with them to watch them break into their next house. Unfortunately, on their first job together, they find themselves in the middle of a crime scene. They know it’s only a matter of time before the police find them and arrest them so in order to clear their names they decide to investigate the case themselves.

This very original premise for a novel is executed with a light and slightly wry tone, narrated by Al with his quirky sense of humour and the introverted personality of someone who has lived alone too long. Al and his new friends test the bounds of plausibility as they try out their skills as amateur con artists, impersonating all and sundry in crazy scenarios to get the information they need to solve the case. The plot is smart and humorous, although could have benefitted from being more concise and not quite so convoluted, but overall it was very enjoyable and certainly never dull. Recommended for those looking for an entertaining, light and quirky mystery with a cast of engaging characters.

I really enjoyed this quirky read. I thought it was quite comical in places and it made me smile. It's a serious issue "breaking and entering" or "interloping" but this book, takes you on a fun journey and you find yourself laughing out loud, when all the characters start "interloping" together. It's a crime/mystery read, with great characters and a gripping plot. Huge congratulations to AHM, for writing another bestseller. Loved it.

I really liked the sound of this book but unfortunately it wasn't for me. I don't think the blurb was accurate for the story line as I was expecting a fun quirky read. I lost interest as it just went on a bit long with too much padding out of the story.

An enjoyable read with an original premise. Full of humour and strangeness, great fun. Will look for some more by this writer.

This book is such great fun to read. Yes it is farcical in many ways, but that is the intention. I found myself grinning from ear to ear at many things in this book from the comic asides to the situations that the characters find themselves in. The book has plenty of twists and turns and from the way it is written you need to read just one more chapter. I have previously read and enjoyed the books by this author, they all have things to think about and commentary on the modern day circumstance. Would recommend to anyone with a sense of fun.

Would you prefer to be in prison for something you didn’t do (murder), or something you did (housebreaking? Neither, you’d prefer not to be in prison at all. Al, our pseudonymous narrator, is on remand for a number of charges, but mainly murder, most of which he didn’t commit. However, he is certainly guilty of housebreaking (“interloping” Is his preferred word), although he has no intention of taking or damaging anything so perhaps his only crime is trespassing with intent. His intent is to find a place to live in comfort for a period measured by the length of time the owner is away, thereby saving on his living costs. He’s been doing this for eight years (he’s late twenties) with only occasional scares when, for example, an owner returns early and he has to make a speedy exit by a carefully planned route. He’s typing this story on a computer available to prisoners in the education area, and he notes that his troubles started when just such an event occurred, and he had to decamp to a fallback (less salubrious) property which he knows is always vacant. Except on this particular occasion he finds three other ‘interlopers’, Em, Ellie, and Jonny already ensconced. Against his better judgement he agrees to join then in interloping a large house in the Cotswolds, even though they do not follow his carefully developed rules for ensuring the operation will go off safely. Big mistake because the owner is on the premises, takes them prisoner at gunpoint and then gets himself inconveniently blown away on the doorstep. On the run from the police, who will be bound to stitch them up for the murder, their only hope is to solve the murder themselves.
This is a wittily, even facetiously, written tale, which, at heart, is a straightforward murder-mystery of the hunted protagonist type. It is fast moving, in the sense that lots of scene changes happen. Many of these are a bit unlikely, since they involve Al and Em in a series of impersonations and general conning, but the style carries one through the disbelief. The final resolution is appropriate, both in terms of the identification of the murderer and in the style in which everything is resolved.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

This was a fun read! The concept was really clever, and I loved the main character and the wit of the writing. I think the pacing was a little slow in parts, but it was still enjoyable and the mystery was satisfying to read. The light-hearted approach reminded me a little of Anthony Horowitz's books.

I liked the premise of this novel and the cheeky title. However, the pace was slow, the over use of dialogue that did not progress the story meant I did not finish.

Another book on my "up my street" list that sadly didn't live up to it's promise. I got bored and skimmed to the end. It grieves me to say this because I had high expectations that were not fullfilled. Certainly not a patch on another comedian's book I read shortly before.

I'm still thinking about what I think of the book after I've read it, which can only be a good thing right? Within the first few pages I nearly put it down as I felt I didn't like Al's voice. I thought he sounded like an older man - 50s rather than a guy in his 20s. I couldn't put my finger on why.

I carried on and once we got to the main meat of the story I perked up, though I still didn't understand why Al stuck around with the others so all the way through I was thinking, well that was a silly decision.

All in all a story that kept me reading but there were too many "but why?" moments for it to be a 5 star read.

I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, it started off really well and I enjoyed the first half, but the second half felt like it lost its way a little, going round in circles with not much happening. I ended up skimming through to just find out what happened.

A rather unusual Crime Novel which had some believable characters & a good story line ,however I sadly was unable to give it five stars because I'd end up getting frustrated when the pace slowed to that of a snail so I'd have to stop reading for a while & then start again ! #NetGalley, #GoodReads , #FB, #Amazon.co.uk, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>,#<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

The first book I have read by this author and the Title immediately draws you in and intrigued you. Humour at times but a lot of padding in my view. Very clever finish that is worth waiting for and definitely a very different book to any I have read before in this genre. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley the chance to ARC this book.

I liked the idea of this book and it started out well. Sadly, it didn’t keep my interest. It felt very slow to progress and I didn’t particularly like any of the characters which made it hard for me to engage and follow what was happening.

I think readers that enjoy a lot of dialogue between characters rather than action may get more from this one than I did.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Too long winded and overly complicated when it didn't need to be. I thought I would enjoy this book after I read the synopsis, however I got bored and frustrated!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Enjoyed this. Love the concept of interloping. Wish all of the characters pasts weren’t quite so mysterious

I was really looking forward to reading this book and I’m so glad I did. It moved at a good pace and was easy to read. It had lots of little twists that helped to move the story along perfectly.

Al, Em, Elle and Jonny are an unlikely set of friends who are interlopers. Told from Al’s POV, we see how a man so used to being alone finds himself suddenly in a group of friends he just can’t get rid of. Being chased all over by Mr Bowling Ball. Wrapped up in a murder they didn’t commit. You find yourself hoping for the best. The book ended in a way I wasn’t expecting but it felt like a natural way for things to turn out.

I really liked the characters. They all had their little quirks that made them likeable. I’m hoping we may see them again in the future.

2.5

I'm sorry, but this really wasn't for me. I thought it would be a fun sort of read (going by the cover and blurb) but what I got was an overly complicated, overlong story and I'm still not sure what was going on - and no, I didn't skip any of it.

I think the story was about a guy who called himself Al (even though that wasn't his name) who broke into other people's homes and stayed there FOC ... and that was his life. Then he inadvertently does something wrong and ends up with three other people doing basically the same thing. Which is fine but they stumble across a murder and, because they've left evidence at the scene of the crime, they decide to solve the case, thus absolving themselves of the blame. The rest of the book is a very complicated explanation of why the murder happened and who did it.

So I know it wasn't just me that found it hard to follow because there's at least three separate occasions where one of the characters summarises the plot "so far". I think that apart from getting a bit of a headache the other bit I didn't understand was why the computer expert (one of the three other housebreakers) didn't just hack into the Police database and delete all the incriminating information? Maybe it was explained and I simply didn't understand.

I'm notorious at not guessing whodunnit but in this book I didn't really understand anything. My fault. Just not the book for me.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Random House, Cornerstone for the advance review copy.