This was my first introduction to Ben Elton as I was just a wee bit young for The Young Ones (every pun I make is intended)! I was late teens when I first read this and it helped me realised how fictional all reality TV is.
Ben Elton is extreme in most of his characters and this book is filled with most of the usual reality stereotypes (in the extreme) ... I believe that is his style and I enjoy the satirical view he has.
While a very few reviewers have left DNF and negative feedback of his novel, I honestly believe they have missed a truly well crafted whodunit that had me turning pages well into the night!! Get ready for a reality bite that leaves you thinking!

It took quite a while to get going, but once it did get going it really drew me in.

I liked that even the identity of the victim was concealed for a large part of the story, that was a good move.

I did find the ending a little too contrived, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Apart from the odd reference here and there to the technology of the time (particularly the mobile phones) I think this has stood the test of time well. The commentary on reality TV is, if anything, even more relevant now with the prevalence of ‘scripted reality’ that no longer even tries to pretend there is not a huge degree of manipulation involved.

A brilliant satire on Big Brother and other series of that ilk, with a meticulously crafted murder mystery woven into the plot.

This was a thoroughly entertaining read, with Elton's biting wit and perfect one-liners on every page. He has a penchant for creating officers of the law who aren't really up to date with modern slang and values - our main character Coleridge's rants about the idiocy of some of the characters in the house are very reminiscent of Rowan Atkinson's Inspector Fowler in The Thin Blue Line, and as I've read his later novel Identity Crisis already I noticed parallels between Coleridge and the Detective in that one too. The TV show cast cut familiar figures, but Elton fleshes them out to wonderful degrees so that none of them feel entirely one-dimensional, and inserts moments of pathos right when you don't expect them.

I had a great time with this one, and I'm hungry for more like it.

Ревю: https://collecteachthought.blogspot.c...

Още със заглавието си книгата обещава кърваво убийство и ожесточена борба за слава и определено го предоставя на читателите. Мрачната атмосфера и мистерията около ужасяващия акт на насилие ще ви накарат да прелиствате с нетърпение страниците и да правите собствени предположения за това, което се е случило.

Известен и мъртъв ни въвежда в света на шоуто Домашен арест, където десет участници жертват личното си пространство, позволяват да бъдат правени на глупаци от водещите и зрителите, за да се сдобият със славата, парите и възможностите, за които мечтаят. Звучи познато, нали? Е, играта рязко се променя, когато един от играчите бива убит.

На пръв поглед това е сюжет на криминален роман, но книгата е по-скоро черна комедия. Случките са нереални, героите са пресилено повърхностни, нечувствителни, лицемерни, всичко е доведено до крайност с цел сатира. В книгата обвинението не е отправено към убиеца, а към телевизионните предавания, които поставят известността на пиедестал и я превръщат във висша цел на зрителите. Към обществото, което се поддава на всички евтини манипулации на медиите и няма свое собствено мнение.

Най-интересният образ е образът на зрителите - на тези анонимни хора, които се възхищават на пошлостта, възбуждат се от парите, следят и обсъждат всеки ход на участниците, но не се интересуват от личността на когото и да е от тях. За тях убийството не е трагедия, то е сензация. Това оскотяване, което се наблюдава у тях, ще ви накара да потръпнете нервно и... уплашено. Друг кошмарен образ е този на снимачния екип, който изкривява всяка една случка в шоуто и представя на зрителите една съвсем различна реалност, в която всеки от участниците е изменен до неузнаваемост, вкаран в ролята, която ще осигури най-висока гледаемост, най-голям приход. Тези хора нямат принципи, те се ръководят единствено от алчността и са готови да стигнат до пълно морално разложение само и само да сглодят следващия епизод на предаването.

Ако сте привърженици както на криминалния жанр, така и на интелигентно написаната проза, Известен и мъртъв е повече от добър избор. Той несъмнено ще ви държи на тръни и ще ви накара да се замисляте за обществото, в което живеем. Защото въпреки че романът е публикуван преди 19 години, светът, изглежда, с всеки изминал ден все повече се доближава до този, описан от Бен Елтън. Предупреждението, което се крие между редовете, става все по-актуално, все по-необходимо. Нуждата да прекъснем този процес, да защитим качеството на живот, да дадем шанс на бъдещите поколения е неотложима. Не искам да повярвам, че някой иска да живее в подобен свят, в свят, който човечността е заменена с болни амбиции.

Dead Famous is a murder mystery in which the crime scene is a Big Brother-esque reality tv show. A kind of dated novel version of the tv series “Unreal”, it follows the day-to-day of the show along with the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing of the show’s cutthroat producer. Running parallel to the housemates’ days in the house is the police investigation conducted by a boomer who’s never watched the show.

Author, Ben Elton, paints a scathing critique of reality tv television. The profit-hungry executives’ thirst for ratings and profit leads to sexual assault, murder, and a suicide attempt.

Overall, the story was compelling. Much like big brother itself, the housemates are entertaining. I was intrigued by their conversations and outrageous personalities. The sleazy voyeurism that runs through the book was hard to read but captures the early Big Brother’s preoccupation with nudity and sex. The book skillfully forces you to ultimately empathise with people it renders as nothing more than self-absorbed and shallow.

The main problem with the book is that it hasn’t aged at all well, there’s nothing like youth slang from 20 years ago to make something feel old. Additionally, as another reviewer described it, it’s just quite icky to read a lot of the time. I also thought the attempt to give every housemate a motive went a little far and was too obvious to reiterate just before the murder.

All in all, Dead Famous holds your attention. It ends particularly brilliantly, it’s impossible to put the book down for the last 100 pages. I also liked the ending because it redeems and devillainizes the contestants suggesting perhaps it wasn’t such a crime to pursue fame.

Works as both mystery and scathing critique of reality shows and the society that watches/creates them.

― Prezentator TV, prezentator TV, prezentator TV, prezentator TV, mecanic de locomotivă.

Sergentul Hooper tresări.

― Mecanic?

― Pardon, am greșit. Prezentator TV.

Plin de năduf, inspectorul-șef Coleridge trânti pe birou dosarul gros cuprinzând profilul suspecților și își îndreptă din nou atenția asupra ecranului video de mari dimensiuni care fusese instalat în colțul sălii destinate cazului. Până în acel moment, vreme de două ceasuri, urmărise benzi video alese la întâmplare.

Garry lâncezea pe canapeaua de culoare verde. Butonul „pauză” fusese apăsat; de aceea imaginea lui Garry rămăsese înghețată. Dacă banda ar fi continuat să se deruleze, imaginea ar fi rămas cam aceeași, deoarece Garry stătea în poziția lui obișnuită, cu picioarele desfăcute larg, cu mușchii încordați, iar cu degetele mâinii stângi ar fi continuat să-și mângâie testiculele.

Deasupra gleznei piciorului drept se vedea plutind urma unui vultur. Coleridge detesta acea pasăre. Ce-și închipuia neisprăvitul acela arogant că avea în comun cu un vultur? Apăsă pe butonul „play” și Garry începu să vorbească:

― Echipa de bază din Premier League e alcătuită din zece dobitoci și o gorilă uriașă, care-și face de lucru în spatele lor, și, de obicei, e un negrotei.

Coleridge făcu un efort ca să priceapă. Simțea că mintea i-o luase aiurea. Ce prostii puteau ieși din gura acestor oameni?! Toată lumea rostea gogomănii, desigur, dar, în cele mai multe cazuri, vorbele se destrămau în aer; în situația celor de pe bandă, ele se păstrau pe vecie. Ba, mai rău, deveneau dovezi. Iar el trebuia să vadă și, mai ales, să asculte totul.

― Dobitocii trebuie să tot plimbe mingea până la gorilă, sperând că ea n-o să fie atentă și, cu puțin noroc, vor reuși să o strecoare în plasă.

Lumea mai auzise asemenea observații sclipitoare: acestea fuseseră alese pentru a fi transmise, iar asta pentru că oamenii de la Peeping Tom Productions fuseseră impresionați de o asemenea exprimare. Apărând în aceeași frază, cuvintele „negrotei” și „gorilă” aveau să constituie un moment extraordinar pentru o televiziune ce prezenta realitatea nudă.

― „Bravi, provocatori și controversați”, mormăi în barbă Coleridge.

This book got better and better as I read; the ending clinching an extra star. House Arrest is based on Big Brother, a show I watched less than ten minutes of, being subjected to inane people and their inane conversation, by then deciding it was a show of very boring people I would have no interest in meeting; placed into a situation, which made them even more boring. This book supposedly satirises them. I say "supposedly", because satire takes something and twists it to make fun of it. As far as I could see the people in the house, with their inane conversation was played completely straight. Based on all I could stand to watch of Big Brother, they don't need to be satirised. That's how they are. My first pick for the murderer, was the actual murderer, but then as the story progressed I went off them and thought it was someone else. I did not suspect the 'obvious' characters. There were hints in the story, which I wondered about, and some of them were real clues it turned out.
A great read and a different who-done-it.

Another one I read as a teen and thought it was wondrously clever. Good British satire with believable characters and dialogue, and something enjoyable about the fact that pretty much everyone in it was abominable.

I was completely fascinated by this book from the very first page. A murder committed in a "Big Brother"-type environment would have seemed impossible to achieve - and certainly very easy to solve - so how could it make for an interesting book? Yet Ben Elton manages to pull it off. I had great difficulties putting it down, and was completely taken aback by the ending... which, granted, wasn't all that likely, even if it was plausible.

The atmosphere of "Big Brother" was spot on (at least as seen in the Danish version), which is actually the sole reason for the one star taken off - I always felt kinda dirty or voyeuristic watching that show, and Ben Elton managed to achieve the exact same result from me reading... to which I guess I should say "Well done!"

Perfect for a quick summer read.... but now I feel like rereading Guilt by Association by Gilbert Morris as "Dead Famous" reminded me of it. That's not a bad thing though ;)

Enjoyable read, I liked the irony and the stretching of the imagination in it. Found the old style detective novel ending entertaining too.

Very well written style and captivating, but that's pretty much all!
The story is as much boring as reality tv can be and the murder part is also of poor quality although I have to admit this is very realistic in all aspects.

From the beginning we are told it is a boring case and it is both for the reader and the inspector. It's all about reality tv and you have the feeling to watch a reality tv of an investigation of a murder which took place in a reality tv show from the beginning of the millenium.

The narrator is very confusing and there are too much useless sentences or parts of it which looks like a metaphore of the voice narrating the story in the house.

I assume all of it was done on purpose, but I have to remove 2 stars because it is better than average so it is at least 3 stars but:
- the book is 400 pages and the doubts over who murdered vanished after 200pages, we then would expect more elements to reach the conclusion on our own
- There is a lack of reflexion which is utterly boring. I did go for a Ben Elton's book after reading Blind faith which is amazing and it is a huge disappointment and contrast.

Also maybe this book was made to be read when it was published which means it is ageing poorly.