Vihdoinkin sain tämän luettua! Onhan tää ollut mulla kirjastosta lainassa jo öö... ehkä 5 kuukautta? Ja uusimiskerratkin ovat tulleet jo täyteen. Eräpäivä olisi onneksi ollut vasta ensi kuussa.

En ehkä sanoisi tätä dekkariksi, ainakaan perinteiseksi sellaiseksi. Mutta hyvä ja mielenkiintoinen tarina ja konsepti tässä kirjassa kyllä oli!

Aluksi ajattelin, että talon 10 asukkaasta ei voi kaikista saada mielenkiintoisia, koska heitä on niin paljon. Mutta ensimmäisten pudottua pois loput noin 7 hahmoa tuntuivat vähän syvällisemmiltä. Tietenkään kaikkien hahmon taustoja ja muita ei kuvattu yhtä tarkasti, mutta hahmot oli silti mielestäni rakennettu hyvin. Geraldine Hennessyä vihasin alusta asti - siinäpä vasta vallan- ja rahanhimoinen ihminen, joka mässäilee toisten ihmisten kustannuksella todellisuustelevisiossa ja koettaa kaikin keinoin tienata rahaa ihmisten alastomuudella ja sanomisilla.

Kirja kuitenkin tuntui hitusen liian pitkältä, vaikka se olikin kirjoitettu tavallaan päiväkirjamuodossa. Jokaisen luvun alussa luki, monesko päivä on kyseessä ja paljonko kello on. Aluksi niin sanottuja aikamerkintöjä oli tiheästi ja kronologisesti, mutta sitten ne alkoivat harventua ja olla lyhyempiä sekä ei-kronologisia, mistä tuli ehkä hieman sekava vaikutelma ja sellainen fiilis, että kirjailijalla oli loppua kohden vähän loppunut innostus kirjoittaa kirjaansa näin. Toki ymmärrän senkin, ettei aivan kaikkia talon tapahtumia kannata kuvata jokaista pienintäkin yksityiskohtaa myöten - ei sellaistakaan jaksaisi lukea.

En arvannut murhaajaa, vaan se tuli minulle yllätyksenä. Epäilin moniakin talon asukkaita, mutta en silti missään vaiheessa tiennyt täysin varmaksi, kuka murhaaja on. Totta kai murhaaja paljastettiin vasta ihan lopussa, mikä nyt tietenkin on tällaisten kirjojen luonne. Siitä en mene täysin takuseen, että murha ja sen tekotapa olisivat olleet täysin uskottavia, mutta ainakin tämä oli erilainen murhamysteeri ja jopa viihdyttävä, jos niin voi edes sanoa :D

Tykkäsin tästä kirjasta kyllä ja voin suositella sitä muillekin. Luen luultavasti jatkossa jonkun muunkin Ben Eltonin kirjan - harmi vain, ettei häneltä ole taidettu suomentaa kuin kolme teosta Tappavan kuuluisan lisäksi. Toki englanniksi lukeminenkin onnistuisi, eikä olisi mikään ongelma.

"Dead Famous" is more social satire than a crime thriller, which makes its twists rather predictable... but good nonetheless.

Wicked! (Lol)

An outdated look on Big Brother (The TV show) with a murder which unfortunately (for my taste) was more of a back story as the big brotherness of it all was the main thing. I might've enjoyed this roughly 15 years ago but now I find myself old and uninterested. I think the investigation of the murder should've played an enormous part for me to like this book. The explanation at the end of how it all went down was really good but having to read about these brainless people hanging around a house with cameras doing absolutely nothing meaningful was not worth it. I did like some of the characters and some of the scenes so it wasn't all shit.

I love how it shows how reality shows can so easily be manipulated. I didn't like the outcome of the murder. I didn't think it was particularly clever or unexpected. And even though I enjoyed the main detective, I also found him very cliched and obviously based on one of the many UK television series' detectives.

So last night I went full dumbass and stayed up way past my bedtime finishing my book thinking “it’s fine I’ll just sleep a little later” and then still woke up at the usual time. Big mistake. Huge!

"One House. Ten contestants. One winner!" shouts the narrator during the opening credits of the Big Brother-like "reality" program "House Arrest". House Arrest is a program that sees ten contestants vie for the public's attention to win half a million pounds, and the show is in its third season. The critics do not think that the series will last very long, but they had no idea what was in store - because what the opening credits don't tell you is that, on day twenty-seven in the house, one of the contestants is brutally, brutally murdered.
Chief Inspector Coleridge is the fifty-something year old detective charged with investigating the case, and "House Arrest" is most probably his least-favorite TV show in the world. He is not "tech-savvy" in any way, and is forced to watch all twenty seven days of the show (while working with wise-cracking but admittedly useful junior police officers). Everyone seems to have had a motive for murdering the victim, which just makes Coleridge's job harder.
A very interesting thing about the book was that it told the storyline out of chronological order - which, somehow, made the plot easier to understand. It also allows you to catch up on the eliminated contestants, so that they are never completely out of the story. Ben Elton has told such a intricate and involved story, often planting tiny clues that I often missed, that never ceases to surprise you - He never rules out anything until the last scene, the revelation of the murderer (which I think may have even surpassed the brilliance of Agatha Christie). Also, Elton doesn't tell you who the victim is until halfway through the book!
When I began reading this novel, I thought that Elton was exaggerating the stupidity of the contestants, because I've never watched Big Brother, until I saw the adverts for Big Brother Australia, which was when I realized that he was spot on. The Big Brother contestants are as ignorant as they are in the book, just without as much swearing. In fact, the swearing and behaviour of the inmates was probably the only drawback of the novel, but this just indicates that it is set in a time where there is practically no Broadcasting Standards Commission.
Anyone who hates Big Brother and would like a good laugh should read this book, but beware - it's not for the faint-hearted. And as Ben Elton himself claimed: without Big Brother, this book would not have been written.

I've never liked TV reality shows in general and Big Brother in particular. This book is clearly based on that show and Ben Elton lifts the lid on the tvduggery that goes on behind the scenes and in the editing suite to produce a daily hour of TV. I'm sure it's exaggerated by the author is well known in television and I'm sure also that there is a large element of truth. The story is a classic closed room murder story, the room being the house in which the, not very pleasant, contestants are living. The story is cleverly written, moving towards the murder which only occurs about half way through as the narrative tells the story of the contestants and of the police viewing endless hours of tape on a day to day basis. But, Mr Elton, you should have known that English law does not recognise degrees of murder as is the case in the USA

I found it very disturbing but I liked the mystery of the murder.

This was not a good book. I truly do not understand all the praise in the beginning of the book, it’s either bought or these people have never read a book before.

Nothing about this story was likeable. Coleridge is a condescending hypocrite that looks down on anyone who isn’t a white mediocre man, claiming that everyone is just hungry for attention. Yet, at the end, he’s the exact fucking same??? So frustrating. It was interesting that we didn’t even know who was killed, but the story was SO SLOW that I lost my interest really quickly.

None of the characters were likeable. I can’t help but wonder how old the author is, since his view on current society is so insanely skewed and biased, he’s clearly a white old dude himself. Gosh, this was so terrible. The characters were like a caricature of reality, and were so terribly written that I didn’t care about any of them. How is the rating for this book so high.

This is honestly the most annoying thing I’ve read in a long time. Literally none of the characters are likeable, the author is stupid AF for portraying these characters so over the top and I honestly hate it. I skipped 200 pages and didn’t miss a thing, which is just insane. The story is dragged out and terrible, all the praise before the story is either bought or fucking made up.

The only thing I did like a little was the reveal at the end. So Geraldine did it, not really surprised, but the reveal was pretty cool and it was funny that he didn’t actually have the tapes, but Tasha re-enacted them lol. Big chance there. And the fact that that Bob Fogerty who absolutely hated Geraldine helped honestly doesn’t make any sense. I guess for the money?  

So yeah, didn’t enjoy this much, skipped a MASSIVE part and still didn’t miss anything. Not good. Getting rid of this book.

Една книга, която по идеално саркастичен начин представя човешката деградация в резултат на съвременната "реална" телевизия.

3.60 ⭐