Contestants are locked in a house for a Big-Brother style British reality show called House Arrest. But then one of them is murdered, and even though the murder itself was caught on camera, the police find themselves in the middle of a complicated, twisted case they may not be able to solve.


I watch a lot of reality TV (though not Big Brother), so I loved a mystery that was centered around a reality show. Elton does a brilliant job of playing around with the reality show contestant stereotypes and the tropes surrounding putting on and editing reality television.

I especially loved this mystery because not only is it set in a reality show, but because of the type of reality show, it becomes a locked room/the killer is one of us mystery, my favorite.

Elton uses flashbacks, the footage the country saw, and the unaired footage the production company kept back brilliantly to build suspense.


This was a re read for me, and it didn't quite hold up as strongly the second time through. I can't really put my finger on why, because I definitely enjoyed the re read a lot,


I would definitely recommend this book. It is a fun, clever, gripping read-I flew through the re read of it in a little over a day.

A highly entertaining comment on society's current infatuation with reality TV, this novel features a "Big Brother"-type show with the addition of a real on-screen murder. At least half the housemates have a motive, so the curmudgeonly old detective assigned to the case has a tough job ahead of him. It's a clever whodunnit, and the final scene where the detective reveals the murderer with some prime-time television theatrics of his own is great fun.

Not what I was expecting at all.

This booked felt like Ben Elton wrote a book about how much he hates reality TV shows. He seems to have created a bunch of selfish, greedy 2 dimensional characters that nobody cares about and thrown in a lame murder plot, that doesn't make sense. It would have been better if had made his feelings a little more subtle than ramming his own opinions down the readers throat on every page. I hope Ben Elton's other books are better, because this one was rubbish.

One of the most cringeworthy books I have ever read. The concept had potential, but Ben Elton manages to create the most pathetic and unlikeable characters imaginable. The lead detective appears to exist as a vessel to mock young people, failing to understand simple phrases under the guise that he is too sensible and intelligent to concern himself with such slang as "24/7" or "no-brainer". The sexual scenes and the weak attempts at commentary on celebrity culture are all awkward and embarrassing. And whilst some of the language choices could be excused as a product of its time, I can't help but think it was probably an uncomfortable read even in 2001.

Ben Elton successfully combines his talents in writing comedy and detective fiction in Dead Famous. As a person who watches very little TV, I hadn't the faintest clue what Big Brother was when I read this book years ago, so I just found myself amused by the idea that so many obnoxious people could have been packed into the same house. How little I knew!

I found the interactions between the contestants extremely interesting, particularly the hatred that they managed to mask for the people they had to live with. Elton also managed to show the manipulations behind the scenes of TV shows very successfully without making it boring or a lecture. In hindsight, what he did best was probably heightening the intrusive, voyeuristic aspect that is part of the real Big Brother, making the viewer feel dirty for watching it, but forces them to tune in the next day.

The murder mystery part was truly Agatha Christie style - a set number of people in a "locked room", all of whom have possible motives for killing the victim. None of the characters are likeable, and that's part of the charm of this book. Having the murder committed right in the view of the cameras and still managing to keep the identity of the murderer so unexpected was masterly. Props to Elton for an entertaining read that also makes you think a bit.

This book really surprised me. I started listening to it as an audiobook and at first, I hated it. After the first CD (40 pages or so), I put it away in disgust, annoyed with the writing style, the characters and the author's apparent political views. But, eventually, the time came when I was stuck in my car with nothing new to listen to. And I was curious about the premise: how could a murder mystery arise when the murder was committed under the all-seeing cameras of Big Brother Peeping Tom? So I put it back on, comforted by the fact that at least the narrator was excellent at his job, performing both male and female characters in about a dozen different accents and always sounding faintly, though amusingly, exasperated.

I'm happy to admit that I was wrong, especially about the characters. I have never watched an episode of Big Brother, but what makes the book actually interesting is that you're paying attention to their actions for a reason: to try and guess what might have been a catalyst for murder, as well as the killer's identity. Also, it's much more exaggerated than any reality show I've heard of, increasing both the drama and the comedy. The contestants are outrageous caricatures, but so are the production team and the police. Once you settle into the story a bit, they begin to become more distinct. It's quite funny and reasonably well-written, with enough sub-plots, banter and additional intrigues woven throughout to keep things interesting.

During the course of House Arrest, a suspiciously familiar reality show, one of the ten contestants murders another one hot, drunken night, in the toilet cubicle with a knife. It can be a bit difficult to sort out who's who at first, but the contestants are, in no particular order:

- Gary, a brawny, boozy, football-loving chav
- Dervla, a mysterious and soft-spoken Irishwoman
- David, a pompous, narcissistic, hipstery ACT-OR
- Kelly, a cute, bubbly, flirty movie extra
- Hamish, a medical student who only signed up to get laid
- Moon, a ladette-ish trapeze artist
- Sally, a surly butch lesbian
- Woggle, a filthy, feral, flea-bitten 'professional anarchist'
- Leila, a sensitive, poetry-loving hippy chick
- Jazz, a laid-back, wisecracking trainee chef

They all have secrets, they're all determined to win, and it's up to old-fashioned Inspector Colridge, cheeky Sergeant Hooper, straight-man (neither straight nor a man) Constable... uh, Trisha (and you!) to solve the mystery.

For anyone bothered by swearing, there is one character who uses the C-word gratuitously. I can't think of any other reason not to recommend it, though. Overall, an enjoyable read.

It was a great thrilling read where every single contestant had a motive of killing the victim. Every member was suspicious of each other and every single dialogue and behavior turned into a new clue.
I actually liked the writing style of this book where the readers are always curious what will happen next. Even the victim was revealed after completing 60% of the book which I am not going to spoil for you

If Dead Famous were a Subway sandwich, the meat would be a murder mystery, and the sauce would be the sprinklings of Elton’s renowned style of satirical wit and ironic humour. And by heck, is this a delicious sandwich. So scrumptious in fact, this being my first taste of a Ben Elton BLT, I rushed to the bookstore halfway through to get all the other flavours. Now my bookshelf is weighed down by every one of his sarcastic stories, from Stark to Meltdown.

We’re presented with a detective, Chief Inspector Coleridge, who’s at the senior end of life and isn’t quite with the times enough to understand everything Sergeant Hooper, his younger assistant in the investigation at the core of the book, says. There’s been a murder in a Big Brother-style house, on live television, in front of millions – one of the contestants has been knocked off in the middle of a reality show. Yet, not a single one of that audience of millions can figure out who the murderer is. Coleridge struggles too, and thus, we begin being swept along with his attempts to solve the mystery.

Elton throws in all the usual traits of your everyday whodunit – the tragic victim, a bunch of people who all have strong motives to commit such a crime, and plenty of red herrings to lull us away from growing suspicious of the true felon. But Dead Famous goes a step further by not only holding off the identity of the killer until the big finale, but also keeping who the victim is under wraps until around halfway through.

Then there’s the satire. Elton makes no bones about poking fun at just how ridiculous the concept of watching a load of thick idiots on the box is. He also has a little jab at the ten contestants themselves, playing on our vapid celebrity culture to evoke a constant stream of laugh-eliciting humour that runs throughout the entire book. Coleridge’s cluelessness regarding modern times is also quite a hoot, especially when Hooper constantly has to stop himself using contemporary slang lest he get an earful. Geraldine, the producer of ‘House Arrest’, the reality TV show at the heart of the plot, also adds to the fun, talking about the contestants she chose with such heavy helpings of contempt and disgust that it’s amusing. But be warned: every other word that comes out of her mouth is a profanity, and that may put some readers off a wee bit.

So, ten contestants, a few cops, and a small handful of producers and technicians making up the team behind ‘House Arrest’. Quite a few characters to keep up with, then, but don’t worry, because Elton does something very clever here. Each character has a very distinctive tone and register that strongly reflects their personality, so it’s pretty easy to keep up with who’s speaking, and which character is which. Take Coleridge, for example – he’s an old fart, to put it bluntly, and the way he speaks is archaic and outdated. As if that’s not enough of an aid to keep up with who’s who, we often get glimpses into the thoughts of each character, helping us to recognise their unique and finely-discerned characteristics more easily. It’s all very clever, and not at all obtrusive – if anything, the distinguished natures of the characters help the words fly off the page at a much faster pace, and pace is important in a whodunit.

Elton employs a non-chronological structure to the story, splitting the action up into digestible chunks of varying length as opposed to chapters of equal size, each preceded with its own timestamp. Eg, ‘day thirty, 9:15pm’. This in itself is a smart move – it reflects how reality TV shows like Big Brother are edited together. We’ve all heard the overly nasal voice of the narrator saying things like, “four twelve am. Douglas is in the garden using a blown-up condom wrapped in a towel as a football”. The first small slice of the story plonks us straight down into the first few hours of the murder investigation. A wedge of pages down the line, we’re whipped back to day one, and from then on in, we follow a more linear path, the events unravelling and the tension building up between the contestants sequentially, occasionally slipping back and forth in time. Some of the chunks overlap, giving different perspectives of the same event, through the eyes of the ‘House Arrest’ production team at one point, and then from the vantage point of the housebound contestants themselves mere paragraphs later.

This is a book that’ll make you laugh, shock you, surprise you, and frustrate you when you finally think you’ve figured out who the murderer is, only to have your mind changed by a development in the relationships between characters that gives one of them stronger homicidal motives than those of the character you previously had your suspicions locked on. You’ll be left pondering; just how much reality is there in ‘reality’ television? Just, stop reading this review and go out and buy the book.

TL;DR: A murder mystery in a Big Brother-style house on a reality television show. Ten contestants. All the usual traits of a good whodunit, and more (you don’t even find out who’s been murdered until halfway through). Funny but thrilling. Takes jabs at just how ridiculous reality television and the celebrity culture that surrounds it is. Quite a bit of swearing from one character is the only real downfall.

Elton does it again. An unthinkable situation, uncontrollable characters, unreliable everything, and unlimited comedy—all in service of skewering another contemporary social phenomenon, in this case Reality TV. It’s dead hilarious, innit!

It was a great thrilling read where every single contestant had a motive of killing the victim. Every member was suspicious of each other and every single dialogue and behavior turned into a new clue.
I actually liked the writing style of this book where the readers are always curious what will happen next. Even the victim was revealed after completing 60% of the book which I am not going to spoil for you

i think i read this at least 10 times on the toilet as a kid

that was brilliant. i honestly have to thank my former classmate for doing a book presentation on this, introducing me to this little piece of absolute brilliance.

the whole premise in itself is so intriguing, it sold me the second my former classmate finished with her presentation. it took me a few months to actually read it, nevertheless. no reason for that at all. the way the book was written was alright, to be honest i didn't find it particularly amazing. it wasn't the flowery type, and i loved that. for a book like this, that kind of writing was perfect. it drives the narrative smoothly and there wasn't a second where i wished that it went on faster because the pacing was great! pacing is such an issue in a lot of books, i've given up on so many books due to it, i was pleased at the pacing for this one. seriously.

the characters were the most self-absorbed, annoying people. which is the whole point. the amount of self-awareness that this book has actually made them somewhat endearing. the author does such a good job making these people so irritating and yet, so compelling. i did come to take quite a liking towards dervla and kelly, though.

i liked that the story doesn't reveal the victim's identity until halfway through, it kept the suspense all the more alive. no pun intended. i liked how everyone was suspicious. like literally, everyone. i can even say that i guessed the killer at several points, but that's because everyone was my suspect of choice depending on the chapter. the reveal was by far, my favorite part. it was just so elaborate and well thought-out, it felt satisfying.

i don't think i have something i particularly despise about it. the characters were made to be annoying, so i don't think it's valid to say i didn't like them at time as that was literally the point. otherwise, i have no complaints.