Okay, this book, this one is definitely one of my favourite reads of this year, like, honestly.

What I'm an absolute fan of is the writing, imo if the writing is good, even the not-so-good stories sound better. And this one is just sooo good. I mean, I literally found myself reading some lines twice, just to appreciate how well written it was and how easily it flowed. Stealing lines from the book itself, let me just say, "it's wicked good, respect!"

The murder occured on the first page, the victim was revealed after 200 pages, and the murderer was revealed just 2 pages before the end of the book. Talk about keeping the suspense up! Although I felt just a little bit dissapointed by the ending, and it got a bit unrealistic somewhere in the middle. But all in all I LOVED it.

Absolutely gripping from the start, keeps you on the edge of the seat, filled with humour, sarcasm, and a witty insight into all things TV, it's basically unputdownable. Highly recommended.

„O casă. Zece concurenți. Treizeci de camere video. Patruzeci de microfoane. Un supraviețuitor. Nouă săptămâni. Fără scuze. Fără scăpare. Arest la domiciliu.”

10 tineri obișnuiți, cu păcate și virtuți, cu defecte și calități, îndeajuns de frumoși, în formă, egocentrici ( unii mai mult, alții mai puțin) și mai ales naivi-chiar și cei inteligenți- având impresia că acest show le va aduce gloria, faima, recunoașterea după care tânjesc cu toții. Bineînțeles, nici premiul cel mare nu-i de lepădat… Cine nu visează să devină bogat și celebru?
Doar că unul dintre ei nu va apuca să viseze prea mult, fiind ucis în direct și la o oră de maximă audiență.

Iar cel care conduce echipa ce investighează cazul nu pare deloc persoana potrivită. Inspectorul-șef Coleridge e trecut de 50 de ani, iubește cărțile, pe Shakespeare, teatrul, deplânge americanizarea limbii engleze, îl deranjează limbajul din ce în ce mai vulgar al tinerilor, lipsa lor de credință, ambiție și idealuri. În plus, n-a văzut nici măcar un singur episod din Arest la domiciliu.

„Coleridge se întrebă dacă era singura persoană din lume care se simțea atât de depășită din punct de vedere cultural. Ori mai existau și alții ca el? Ducând o viață secretă, strecurându-se nevăzuți, temându-se să deschidă gura ca nu cumva să se dea de gol. Oameni care nu mai pricepeau reclamele, ca să nu mai vorbim de programele TV.”

Dar până și fanii declarați, ca sergentul Hooper, ajung să urască toată povestea asta după ce sunt siliți să urmărească sute de ore de material filmat. Fiindcă în casa Peeping Tom-potrivit nume!-zeci de camere fixe și mobile înregistrează continuu, 24/7, chiar dacă doar o mică parte ajunge pe micile ecrane. Iar ceea ce ajunge la telespectatori nu e realitatea, totul e montat, editat, trunchiat, acțiunile și declarațiile concurenților sunt răstălmăcite grosolan, publicul e manipulat să-și îndrepte simpatia ori ura asupra unor persoane care nu-s cu nimic mai bune ori mai rele decât altele din casă.

Producătorii sunt interesați doar de rating așa că încearcă permanent să-i întărâte și să-i provoace pe concurenți; temperatura ridicată care obligă la ținute sumare ori băutura, menită să alunge inhibițiile, fiind doar două dintre metodele de a obține ceea ce vor. În lumina necruțătoare a reflectoarelor, nimeni nu mai poate avea secrete, principii ori demnitate. Cinismul lor te revoltă și te înfioară iar incursiunea asta prin culisele/bucătăria producțiilor de acest gen îți lasă un gust amar în ciuda umorului cu care Ben Elton prezintă situația.

La prima vedere, pare un mister clasic de tipul „camera încuiată” însă autorul abordează subiectul într-un mod original: știm încă de la început că a avut loc o crimă însă numele victimei ne e dezvăluit de-abia pe la jumătatea cărții, după ce ne-am familiarizat cu personajele implicate și am făcut diverse presupuneri în legătură cu identitatea celui ucis, mai ales că unii concurenți sunt atât de antipatici încât simți că respectiva crimă ar fi perfect justificată…

Mai multe: https://jurnal365.ro/recenzia-de-vine...

CE ROMAN.

J’ai absolument adoré : l’idée d’une télé-réalité et d’un crime était peut-être pas si étonnante mais la façon dont s’est traitée ? WOW.

Read because I'm looking at reality TV in fiction. The plot had its highlights, but was overly complicated, the first half of the book was way too preachy about the evils of reality TV, and it was very cheesy. Not a boring book, though.

At first, I found the book quite irritating, for the simple reason that the housemates were irritating, and so were the main characters to an extent; and the person who was killed was not revealed until about page 200, which I found to be quite aggravating to begin with.
However, as it developed, I understood how this added drama and tension to the novel, and it made it much more interesting. The book definitely became more intense as it went along, concluding in an explosive and unexpected manner, for which I applaud Ben Elton. The ending really was phenomenal, and the reason I gave it 5 stars instead of 4.
The novel was a very intriguing look into reality television and the idea of 'Big Brother' related shows, simultaneously thrilling readers with a psychological enigma as to who had the motive which drove them to murder.
A fantastic book which is definitely worth a read.

big brother reloaded ;))

A Big Brother style reality game show.. a savage murder committed on live feed seen by millions of people! Old school police Coleridge and his team strive to uncover the murder as millions watch, read and listen with bated breath! A great Elton expose on reality TV, the masses, the quest for fame and people's prejudices... which is much more captivating mystery, than side splitting comedy. 7 out of 12.

Ben Elton turns his dark wit to Big Brother and its spawn with his dramedy Dead Famous. The premise is as you would expect – a handful of strangers being filmed in a house 24/7 with evictions occurring on a weekly basis. The twist: somebody inside this CCTV-rigged house manages to get themselves murdered.

The novel is structured in such a way that it takes advantage of the omnipotent time stamps which pervade the genre – there are no chapters, only days and times respective to how long the competition has been running. We begin on Day 29 with the police investigating their murder, and as they watch back the tapes of House Arrest, we go back with them to experience Day 1. Both streams progress until the murder occurs and brings them into sync.

The structure is excellent and allows us to form the same opinion of the characters as the lead detective, Coleridge. At the same time, we get to know the contestants very well ahead of the killing halfway through.

Each contestant is very different, and each sends up a typical Big Brother stereotype. David, Dervla, Moon and Jazz are among the most instantly likeable, while Hamish, Gazza, Woggle and Sally take a bit of time to come into their own. Only Layla and Kelly can merge a bit until their storylines develop, and even then they both have greater plot than character significance.

Elton successfully implies sufficient motive for most of the cast to have been the killer (and, at points, all). Some motives are stronger than others, but there is no obvious candidate which keeps the reader guessing.

Of the production staff, series producer Geraldine Hegnessy is an utterly fabulous pantomime villain. Caricatured within an inch of her life as a vulgar, bullish and shameless executive who happily bullies her staff and exploits viewer and contestant alike, she brings fun and devilish delight to the story.

Her colleagues are also memorably quirky, what with Bob Fogarty’s predilection for chocolate bars, Pru’s stifled ambitioned and… Carlisle. Perhaps the less said about Carlisle the better.

Veteran detective Coleridge is an inspired character. Whether he was intended to be an audience surrogate I’m not sure, though his utter bafflement at how society has come to be what it has very well represented my own thoughts as the story progressed, even if he is frequently criticised for living in the wrong century. He is a decent, witty and thoroughly likeable chap. Hooper and Trish make up his team perfectly, with Hooper being everything Coleridge isn’t (of which they are both very glad) and overall the police unit is superbly cast.

Although I was able to solve the mystery ahead of its reveal, the solution is very clever and, most importantly, satisfying within the narrative. Elton times the ending perfectly, drawing the curtain with an appropriately concise finale where it could have been too easy to dwell of the aftermath.

While Elton scathing take on the Big Brother culture is very intelligently put across, as much through implication and subtext as in his more obvious statements, he often pushes the limits of taste and leaves an uncomfortable taste in the reader’s mouth. Dark themes and sexually crude outbursts jar with the otherwise humorous tone. They are less prevalent than in Chart Throb, while the strengths are much stronger.

It seems every character, speech and plot development have been painstakingly put together, and the result is a funny, biting and clever satire of the defining TV creation of the Noughties.

Ben Elton's ear for satire is frequently made of tin. Maybe people in the UK speak as his designated vapid characters do, but they all speak exactly the same as each other, and most of what they say is foreign to Australian ears.

But Dead Famous comes before the excesses of the likes of Chart Throb or Blind Faith, and is therefore only marginally unbelievable. It's not too hard to suspend disbelief, except in frequent jarring moments like one character calling semen "bollock champagne".

Dead Famous was concocted as a reaction to the Big Brother phenomenon that briefly swept the UK and the antipodes. Already anticipating the fish bowl shows' slide into considerably less relevance, Elton spices up the scenario by injecting murder into the house populated by his key suspects.

The structure of Dead Famous allows for propulsive and intriguing reading; for a murder mystery, in which we know from the start that there has been a murder, it is unorthodox not to know the victim or the method of murder until approximately halfway through. The conclusion actually seems somewhat inevitable when it comes, but a significant amount of guessing is entered into.

Elton's characters are somewhat larger than life, taking on the extremes of vulgarity and prudishness. Many of his books are not exactly character studies, but if he honestly thinks that the people of his nation are really this intellectually bankrupt, it's a surprise that no one has risen up against him. None of these people are nice, and even the lead investigator we're supposed to identify with is more of a dinosaur than anything else.

Still, this is a quick and relatively painless exercise, definitely easier than Elton's more preachy work. Plus it was only a dollar, and I got more than a dollar's worth of entertainment out of it.

Muun muassa Musta Kyy -televisiosarjan käsikirjoittajana toimineen Ben Eltonin neljäs suomennettu romaani Tappavan kuuluisa, 2003 (Dead Famous, 2001) jatkaa Popcornista (Popcorn, 1996) tutuksi tulleella tematiikalla irvailemalla viihdeteollisuuden tekopyhyydelle ja nykyihmisen kaikenvoittavalle julkisuudenkipeydelle. Erona edelliseen romaaniin nyt ollaan siirrytty Hollywoodista Englantiin ja elokuvateollisuudesta tositv-tuotantoihin.

Lähes täydellisesti Big Brotheria muistuttavassa tositv-ohjelmassa "Kotiaresti" murhataan suorassa lähetyksessä yksi kilpailun osallistujista, mutta lukuisista televisiokameroista ja mikrofoneista huolimatta syyllisestä ei ole tietoakaan. Elton on valinnut irvailulleen ja pilkkakirveelleen liian ilmeisen kohteen: tositv-tuotannot ja Big Brother ennen kaikkea ovat niin idioottimaista soopaa, että niistä on enää vaikea lohkaista kunnon ivaa, jota jokainen tervejärkinen aikuinen ihminen ei olisi jo oivaltanut. Tosin lukijan on hyvä pitää mielessään, että romaani on kirjoitettu vuonna 2001, jolloin ilmiö oli vielä varsin tuore. Ensimmäisen kerran Big Brotheria esitettiin Alankomaissa vuonna 1999.

Romaanin juoni noudattaa perinteisen rikosdekkarin suuntaviivoja sillä erotuksella, että vaikka murhatutkimusta seurataan kirjan ensisivuilta lähtien, itse murhattu paljastuu lukijalle vasta kirjan puolivälin jälkeen. Loppuratkaisu on hieman epäuskottava ja jättää myös muutamia kysymyksiä leijumaan ilmaan. Elton on joka tapauksessa mielenkiintoinen kirjailija ja on sääli, että hänen 16 romaanista on toistaiseksi suomennettu vain neljä.

Arvioni 3,3 tähteä viidestä.

Telly from the hip and for the hip! Classic murder mystery meets Big Brother; a real-life whodunit. And not just that. For quite some time the identity of the victim is a fookin' mystery as well. Hell, you barely get an idea of what, where and how it happened.

One house, ten contestants, and all fahkin' idiots in one way or another. Colorful bunch. Inspector Coleridge couldn't have gotten a worse case. The type of guy who was born old. Today's youth is as much a mystery to him as who did it. His amazement, his observations; hilarious. Geraldine, the producer of the show, deserves a mention as well. Horrible, horrible person, but in a delicious way.

Fun characters, pretty much all of them, and Ben Elton is having fun poking fun at them. With a sharp pen, British humour, vigorous pacing and a mystery that just gets crazier and crazier. Never a dull moment, not really. House Arrest Three.. Wicked!

Забавно и разпускащо четиво. Книгата е написана достъпно и простовато, не натоварва по никакъв начин. Предлага средно вълнуваща мистерия за убийство, но пък получава точки за оригиналната основа сюжетът да се развива в рамките на реалити предаване. Обърканият наратив беше интересен до средата на книгата, но от там насетне имаше някои слаби моменти, които е напълно възможно да са се появили в книгата и за пълнеж.
Хареса ми да не знам коя е жертвата до средата на книгата, разгадаването на убиеца беше забавно, но сравнително лесно. Допадна ми борбеността на детектива срещу модерната жажда за слава, но и този елемент намери смъртта си на финала на книгата и ме разочарова и развесели с напомнянето за горчивата реалност колко просто е устроена човешката жажда за бързи удоволствия. Нищо ново, но весело и разтоварващо за четене.