You may call him a squatter but he would prefer interloper. You don't know his real name, But when he stumbles across others doing the same thing it all descends into murder and mayhem. Fun romp into a conspiracy, good pacing, characters and engaging style. Enjoyed it!

Al is an interloper. Someone who stays in wealthy homes while the owners are away. Everything is going well until he breaks into the wrong house and finds a body. Soon things go from bad to worse.

Although I have yet to read this author’s other books, I understand they are a slightly different style to what A Beginner’s Guide To Breaking And Entering is. I feel this reads as a cosy crime novel with plenty of humour running throughout. I enjoyed the narrator Al and his thoughts, as well as the peculiar situations he finds himself in. The other characters are also well written and add a lot of intrigue to the story. This is certainly an original, easy to read novel.

Although the overall story was entertaining, there were times where I felt the pacing slowed slightly and my interest started to wane. Saying that, this is definitely a usual story, in a good way, and offers a fun, quirky read with twists and turns. 3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Seriously brilliant! A really original premise and quirky and engaging storytelling. There’s lots to get to grips with, murders, money laundering, impressive tech savvy and of the moment malarkey and a cast of characters that put scooby doo and his friends to shame and of course there’s the interloping.
There are lots of twists and turns along the way and the plot kept me guessing to the end, which was an extra bonus, but I loved the ride regardless. One of the most entertaining and fascinating reads I’ve encountered in a while.
Definitely a writer to follow, can’t wait to read more from him.

A very modern and gripping novel, that I found myself thinking about when I wasn't reading it! I was desperate to know "whodunnit", and loved the twists and turns, I loved "Al" and his secret identity, and his "rules". Definitely will be recommending this book to people!

‘A beginners guide to breaking and entering’ is an intriguing book. I enjoyed the premise, and story with the main narrator ‘Al’ (not his real name of course) a seasoned ‘interloper’ (e.g squatter), gets involved with another group of interlopers and one thing leads to another and eventually murder.

For me the pacing was a little off, and in parts it really dragged on (to the point where I unusually stopped reading it for. Few weeks). The characters are well written, none of them particularly likeable and it is a nice little read.

3.5 rounded to 4 on here.

Thank you to netgalley and penguin random house for an arc

I loved the author's fun, engaging writing style. It's written in the first person and that person is very dry witted, very funny and very likeable. 'Al' is also an uninvited house sitter or "interloper" and so Al's not his real name obviously. He's someone who in his own words is being "collared for something he didn't do, but who absolutely deserves to be caught for all the things he did." He's someone who manages to antagonise both "the law and the criminals, and nearly get himself killed about six times." That said he's never hurt anyone physically as he doesn't "have the upper body strength for one thing". As well as being funny, there's a good murder mystery element and I absolutely loved the will-they-won't-they chemistry between Al and Em. The only thing that stopped this being a 5-star read was that for a fun, frenetic and slightly farcical murder mystery it veered slightly off track in the last part introducing lots of new plot points and bit characters and getting unnecessarily complicated.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. Its definitely not something I would normally pick up but I actually really enjoyed it. The main character 'Al' is extremely likable and very funny. Even though he is a criminal you want him to succeed in what he does and I could picture everything he was doing really easily.

You do have to concentrate while reading this book as lots of characters are introduced and it could become quite confusing if you arent paying attention.

All in all I really liked this book. Thank you netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Al is extremely skilled at breaking and entering other peoples houses. He doesn’t do it to steal – he has scruples - but to squat, his reasoning being that if it’s empty, why not live in it? After all, it beats paying rent and other inconvenient bills.

All is going well until the night a house owner returns unexpectedly having forgotten his passport. Al decides it’s time to move on and go to his Go To safe house, the one he uses regularly when things get a tad hot. The problem is that someone else is in residence – not the owners, but a group of like-minded people who are also skilled and very knowledgable. Al now finds himself in a bit of a bind, a situation which eventually leads to a murder…

This is often funny and certainly different, with roguish characters who are quite likeable. The pace is a little hit and miss, and sometimes the author tries a little too hard with the humour, but nonetheless, it’s a light, easy to read novel.

The protagonist, Al, breaks into other peoples homes. The twist is, he doesn’t take anything, just stays in them whilst the owners are away. We know there’s an issue with this, as Al is in prison at the start of the book. He then takes us on an adventure of his experiences and it’s a fun, easy read about life choices, murder and consequences and I enjoyed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to preview.

I didn't know what to expect from this book but it certainly wasn't what I got. A very funny, extremely entertaining read with lots of twists that kept me guessing right up until the very end. Admittedly I didn't understand some of the financial or technical jargon but that didn't detract from the enjoyment one bit. I will definitely look up other books written by Andrew Hunter Murray and recommend this one to anyone who wants an educated, interesting, humorous read.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a really fun and entertaining read with a great main character in Al. I felt like it did drag a little around the 60-70% mark. Personally I would've maybe preferred less financial/fraud jargon but I understand why it was there of course. I didn't feel that the love story was that believable and the book would've been just as good without it. And finally I would've really loved more of Al's back story. Sequel maybe?

Thanks for NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Al spends his life house sitting the homes of the wealthy, admittedly the owners of these homes don't know that Al is house sitting for them. Al has two rules when it comes to this life 1) Look after the house as if it was your own, and 2) Always work alone. When Al breaks the second rule things start to fall apart, and Al is telling us his story from prison. In a story that features dodgy estate agents, dirty cops, and corrupt politicians, I felt that the bad guy was just a bit too obvious but having said that I did enjoy this book and I would quite like prequel as I would like to know how Al came to be estranged from his family.

Not my favourite book but definitely not the worst. It just didn't compell me to keep reading as I found it a little slow and nearly gave up in places. Just not my cup of tea

I wasn't really sure what this book would be about when I started reading it, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The story was gripping throughout with an interesting and comical narrator. There are several questions that go unanswered throughout the book, which is slightly annoying. However, the mix of comic narration and amateur investigation worked well and kept me engaged throughout.

What an enjoyable read. There's plenty of laughs and tension as the plot plays out. The story moves very quickly as things start to unravel.

Hilarious happenstance for the nihilistic drop out. How does a self-sufficient man cope when drawn into reliance and a bigger spiral of cause and effect?

What a brilliant book. I absolutely loved reading this and could barely face putting it down. It has great characters, a crazy plot and the writing is fantastic. It's one of those books where you start to take screenshots of lines that are great, only to realise that there are going to be too many.

The story begins with Al, an "interloper" who basically spends his time living for free in rich people's unoccupied homes. Except now he's writing from prison - so clearly something went wrong somewhere.

A visit to a home he usually stays in took an unexpected turn as he discovers that another group have got there first. And when he agrees to go with them to their next target house, things go very badly wrong. And from then on the four of them - Al, Em, Elle and Jonny - are on the run in case they are suspects in a murder while simultaneously trying to solve that murder.

The best thing about this book for me is the writing. It's so intimate, as though Al is basically talking to himself. Which he literally sometimes is:

"It's only when he moves his hand a fraction that I think to myself: Al, you're now standing at gunpoint. Weird word, gunpoint. If it ever applies to you, you're not the one doing the pointing. Oh my God, Al. Concentrate will you?"

And because the reader is so involved in the private thoughts and feelings of Al, it's easy to feel very invested in him. We see all his flaws and foibles and insecurities, and that makes him relatable because there's bound to be something in him that every reader can probably see in themselves.

As the book progresses we learn a bit more about his history - although much is still a mystery. But one thing that comes out clearly is that he's been quite lonely for much of his adult life, and his meeting of the other three interlopers has made him appreciate having company again. His slowly blossoming romance with Em is really well done.

She's the other really brilliant character for me - someone very quick-witted and intelligent, who has the knack of getting into any persona needed in order to get what she wants.

As with so many novels, the plot is a good one but what kept me reading was the main characters and the developing relationships between them. The style very much reminded me of Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone on this Train is a Suspect and Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone) who I also really enjoy reading. I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good story and will be looking to read more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for ARC.
Al is living an odd life, getting by in a housing market that doesn't make sense by entering empty homes and occupying them. He keeps his head down, leaves no trace, and has had no hassle. Until he meets a group of like minded individuals and things go terribly terribly wrong and they're suspects in at least one murder. They try to stay on the run while finding out what really happened.
This is a hugely entertaining romp of a novel, and even when the plot threads don't quite hang together it's a fantastic achievement.

I really enjoyed this book. Al (not his real name) has spent years living in other people's houses while they are away. He doesn't steal. He just lives there. He calls it interloping. Then one day he goes back to one of his regular properties and finds 3 other interlopers there. Against his better judgement he finds himself going with these people to a large house in the Cotswolds. This is where everything starts to go wrong. The home owner is still there and is murdered in front of them. They know they will be suspects if they are caught at the house, so they decide to investigate themselves, in the hope of finding the perpetrator. The story is very entertaining in a frenetic, slightly farcical way. I recommend it as a good read. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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Sometimes, occasionally,, you come across one of those novels which is so fresh, so readable and so funny that you find yourself looking forward to opening it up again when life forces you to put it down to eat, sleep or work. A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering is one such book and it totally grabbed me from page one to the very end.

Read it and you will see - there’s not a dull page in the whole book or a character that didn’t spring to life from the talented pen of Andrew Hunter Murray. It definitely deserves to be a best seller.

Many, many thanks to all concerned for allowing me to read and enjoy this entertaining, and above all, fabulously funny book.