"The first casualty of war is truth."

What an amazing book! Well-written, good characters, and an intriguing plot.
The main character is a respected police detective, who is a conscientious objector in WW I. He is incarcerated for his beliefs, but when an incredibly horrible incident occurs in the ranks of the front lines, he is brought into service to find the truth.

Very well done.

I first came across Ben Elton back in the 1980s when he was a comedian, and some of his novels (especially Gridlock) are side-splittingly funny. The First Casualty is very much darker. It concerns a somewhat priggish and sanctimonious policeman, who, in the First World War, finds that a strict regard for logic and truth leaves him the wrong side of the law. Jailed as a conscientious objector he ends up released to investigate a case of murder on the Western Front in the hell of Passchendaele in 1917. The novel brings the horror of trench warfare to life like no other book I have ever read, the aim being to raise questions of what constitutes murder, when people are being blown to bits in the cause of war. The novel stays just the right side of preachy, and is an engrossing and terrifying read.

again, something was off with this book. The same ideas were hammered on, in internal thoughts, dialogue and exposition that I started to skim. I guess I'm giving up on this author. I love the premises of his books but the execution falls flat for me.

I wouldn't have chosen to read this book if it hadn't been read as part of my book club. It was enjoyable despite the grim setting of WWI. I would probably have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been imaging the characters of blackadder saying the lines in the book - the language deployed by Elton frequently reminded me of the tv series Blackadder Goes Forth. The upper class characters in particular reminded me of Laurie's Lieutenant George.

That said, the choice to centre the book on a conscientious objector worked well, even if the plot was rather far fetched at times.

By far the best book I've read describing the vivid, visceral horror of trench warfare in 1917.
Ben's plot sits precariously on top of this; as with many of his novels, getting his moral views across make things a little bit over-explainy at times.

A unique book, presenting the horrors of the first World War in stark detail while telling the story of a murder investigation interwoven with wry observations and humour. A clever exploration of the validity of war.

Another great book by Ben Elton.

Ben Elton finds that sweet spot of tension between honor and integrity and rings it like a gong. What happens to a man when committing to his own integrity and to truth is dishonorable? When his integrity costs him all he values - his profession, his reputation, his wife and child... yet makes him the solution to resolving a dangerous situation after a famous soldier, critically important to the war effort, is murdered.

The environment of the first world war is depicted skillfully and faithfully. Ben Elton does a thorough job creating his environments, and this one is all the more chilling for being non-fiction.

It never ceases to amaze me how different Ben Elton's books are from one another. Here it's a detective novel set on The Western Front during the Third Battle of Ypres. Very well researched and a lovely little bit in a trench which references Blackadder's Goes Forth.

Nope, simply nope. Tub thumping, leaden, prolier than thou attempt at WW1 fiction. I should have known better - never found him funny and his right-on, dog whistle socialism was always so tiresome. His tv scripts were excellent but he can't maintain any interest in a supposedly serious novel.

Just predictably awful.

Ben Elton's best work... and it's not satire of dark comedy!
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How about a military police investigation taking place on the Ypres frontline in 1917, during the First World War!!! On top of that ingenious scenario Elton holds nothing back on the utter senselessness of war, gender inequality and Suffragettes, the treatment of homosexuality, class distinctions, British Bolsheviks, conscientious objectors, the Irish uprising, the penal system etc,... and still puts together a highly engrossing mystery. Mystery in the trenches!!
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Ben Elton's best!
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9.5 out of 12.

Ben Elton started off writing novels set in a dystopian future, then they became contemporary and this is his first bash at an historical novel; and it is not a bad stab. Basically this is a detective story set against the backdrop of the Great War, but it also deals with the horror of conflict, the class system and the crisis of conscience over where to draw the line of morality. As you would expect from Elton, there is a little bit of politics in there; actually, one of the themes is the class system and the political differences of capitalism and communism. As a novel dealing with subjects such as class, sexism, politics, racism, universal suffrage, jingoism, morality, patriotism and homophobia, it does very well to highlight that doing the right thing for the right reason is not always easy and that it is easy to lose sight of your principles. As a detective story I have read better but I have read worse too. My first suspicion as to whodunit was confirmed at every turn and I much prefer to be wrong at each plot twist. It is almost as though Elton was more concerned in addressing the problems of society within this book that the plot was sacrificed for the sake of education as to how easy it is to give way to hating.