We anticipate that part of the miss assessment of the themes of the book is attributable to two of the main characters being aspiring comedians. As Frank tries to care for Giorgio, who is injured in a drinking related accident, the cracks form in their platonic relationship, which shatters in a quiet yet spectacular fashion. But it’s a tender, intimate story, too, one in which long-repressed love and competitiveness bubble up as if from nowhere. We think instead Mr Healy has crafted a predatory character camouflaged in an otherwise wistful urban landscape. This is a much quieter, introspective story than a lot of Healy’s previous work, but it definitely has emotional layers that encourage further reflection after reading.

I do understand that it's supposed to be an exploration of mental illness and toxic friendships, and that it doesn't make sense in real life, but narrative-wise, it felt kind of. It’s a nice, short read and I appreciate the layers Healey is trying to peel back and deconstruct but I don’t feel like I would be reading it over either as an autobiographical work or as a portrayal of mental health. I just could not care why the dweeb kept hanging around with the asshole or what they'd get up to next. One of the funniest books you will ever read…’ -Irish Times ‘A quietly brilliant story of old friends and secret lives.The central question that animates ‘The Con Artists’ is: what does it mean to watch someone struggle?

Luke Healy’s playful, hilarious third graphic novel uses crisp lines and physical comedy to portray an uneasy friendship between two young men on the cusp of adulting. From Nobel Laureates Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter to theatre greats Tom Stoppard and Alan Bennett to rising stars Polly Stenham and Florian Zeller, Faber Drama presents the very best theatre has to offer. Snippets from Frank's middling stand-up routines are punctuated by the subtle farce of Healy's mise-en-scène and the lively, at times scathingly pointed, banter of old friends. I also enjoyed witnessing Frank and Giorgio's dynamic which felt like an accurate portrayal of how people like Frank are manipulated by people like Giorgio. Sometimes someones are unhealthy and don't need to be in your life, and we need far more stories showing this to be true.The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report.

Snippets from Frank’s middling stand-up routines are punctuated by the subtle farce of Healy’s mise-en-scène and the lively, at times scathingly pointed, banter of old friends. But perhaps that is more accurate to a certain experience of life, where one is saying one thing and feeling so, so much of another thing. Frank and Giorgio, the two men at the heart of it, are brilliant, vivid creations, and the passive-aggressive scratchiness between them is so beautifully observed. Home to William Golding, Sylvia Plath, Kazuo Ishiguro, Sally Rooney, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Max Porter, Ingrid Persaud, Anna Burns and Rachel Cusk, among many others, Faber is proud to publish some of the greatest novelists from the early twentieth century to today.

Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. The Con Artists is a stylish character study that asks the question of who fools who once everyone is off-camera. Nonetheless, there is something entirely sad about Frank’s lacklustre tilts at the windmill of live comedy. That being said, it also feels like a high wire act bound by an almost overwhelming restraint, with so many emotions bubbling below the surface, without much of a climax or release for the reader. With classics such as Ted Hughes's The Iron Man and award-winners including Emma Carroll's Letters from the Lighthouse, Faber Children's Books brings you the best in picture books, young reads and classics.

A Guardian Best Book of 2022 —'A beautifully observed masterpiece… one of my favourite graphic novels I’ve ever read. That part was a little confusing because a lot of this graphic novel is Frankie talking about his mental illness. Finding himself unable to disentangle himself from his friend's complicated life, has Frank become Giorgio's unwitting accomplice? Frank only wanted three things this year- to perform stand-up comedy, go to therapy, and to keep his house plants alive.

Frank is willfully antisocial yet lonely, a paradox that haunts the millennial generation, well reflected in The Con Artists.