Reviews (includes Amazon reviews)

The following ‘reviews’ can be found on the back cover of Pork Chops On The Left Hammer. As time passes and the work gets out a bit more into the world, these will be updated!

  • Some of the bitches in this book, amigos; I could bang 'em like a screen door! Seriously drooling over the TV series. Julio Scorchio, Mexico

  • Fabulous, dangerous, powerful. A stone-cold asparagus of a book. The author discovers himself as he discovers America. Maybe the first book of its kind. Praisebe Jaysus, Dublin

  • Only a handful of gratuitous sex scenes. Complained to the online retailer - who told me to 'Foxtrot-Oscar'. Whatever that means. Livid, New York

  • A dog's breakfast of a cookery book. Not a single recipe. We nearly fecking starved reading it. The Daily Glutton

  •  A masterpiece of travel, sports and adventure writing. Absolutely life-changing! NBD Ever

  • "Everything is bigger over there, especially the Trouble!"
    Amazon.co.uk - 28 July, 2026. Format: Kindle Edition

    The early 1980s, Irish people still had a fascination with all things America. Bigger everything, a way of life that was fed to us all in every TV cop show/Movie and returned emigrants tales.

    Pre internet, pre mobile phone. Everything organised by international phone call, word of mouth and a wing and a prayer.

    Into this Cultural shock go Custer and his fellow team mates from Dublin's St Michael's soccer club on a two week tournament of the Cape area of the USA.

    This book gives a funny and lively account of the day to day adventures of the various characters. A lads holiday with a soccer exhibition match in each port of call. The tales that American women are stunning and up front about their intentions are put to the test nightly. The results are both hilarious and life changing for some of our heroes.

    Patrick Meehan (Custer) gives great insight to what he is experiencing and witnessing as the two weeks unfold.

    One may say, "But this is just an account of any bunch of Dublin lads away trip". No! this book contains a sting I was not expecting. In the warm afterglow of a romantic encounter "Custer" is propelled with a massive G-Force into a possible life ending situation. A situation that again lives up to the fascination with America: " Everything's bigger, especially the trouble!".

    I really enjoyed this book more as I got to know the characters and their different reactions to experiences.

    Became a page turner as edgy events unfolded. 

  • "RODDY DOYLE MEETS BILL BRYSON" 
    Amazon.co.uk - 19 September 2026. Format: Paperback

    Pork Chops On The Left Hammer (Remembering America) can best be described as Roddy Doyle meets Bill Bryson.
     
    It recalls the narrator's odyssey as a guest member of a testosterone-fuelled Dublin football team playing exhibition games against selected colleges and universities on America's East Coast in the autumn of 1982.
     
    Part 1 begins in a superbly described, run-down New York City and includes the five games played as the team travels through Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Don't worry if you're not a football fan; the games are briefly (but hilariously) narrated.
     
    Part 2 is set on Cape Cod, where the team has retired for a week of rest and relaxation. The existential twist in this section—where lives are at risk and the entire venture is put in jeopardy—is completely unexpected and makes the narrative all the more engrossing and cohesive.
     
    One niggle I had at the beginning was the difficulty keeping track of all the characters. However, the author skilfully deals with this by gradually reducing a remarkable cast to a core of probably 5–6 main actors.
     
    Overall, the book is a surprising and refreshing mix of travel adventure, bawdy Dublin humour, history (ancient history, if you are a fan of Alexander), romance, literature, and Americana. It also has a brilliant soundtrack from the late '70s and early 1980s. I also noticed that on his website, the author provides links to all the songs referenced in the narrative, as well as the poems and books quoted.
     
    Although the narrator's various encounters with the opposite sex form a strangely poignant and unexpected part of the overall narrative, one gets the impression the author's big love was for America itself, which he was visiting for the first time. As the pages fly by, you can sense his heartfelt admiration for a country that no longer exists (certainly not in this Trump-dominated era). So, if Roddy Doyle or Bill Bryson is your bag, you will almost certainly enjoy Pork Chops On The Left Hammer (America Remembered).