Im a big fan Ben Elton's books and again i wasn't disappointed. However, I had to knock a star off for an unnecessary sex scene which I struggled to read and almost made me stop reading. I am glad i continued as I stayed up until late as I had to finish it. It's not his usual comedy book and deals with a very emotive and always current issue, I wont say what as I don't want to give any spoilers. The characters were well written and I liked the main 2, I even felt for others but not all in a positive way. The book moved at a great pace and although i guessed who the culprit was early on it didn't ruin the story.

Страхотна, една от най-добрите истории на Бен Елтън!
Завладяваща до последните минути, през цялото време подозирах Джеймисън, после реших, че е гейчето, което е тероризирал като малък ... добре го е измислил.
Като минуси - с някои неща отива в крайности, като например броят на убийствата и превръщането на Дик Кросби в Ангелът на отмъщението за изтормозените в училище.
Иначе до последно се търси кой е убиецът, след като един по един отпадат кандидатите - и Хелена, и Роджър Джеймисън, и моят фаворит гейчето. С последните две убийства, на учениците в различните части на Англия малко прекалява, прекалява и със сексуалните сцени, то пък задължително всяка откачалка в училище се оказва неква извратенячка като възрастна, само дето с кон не го е правила, ама и това предстои.
Но пък образите са интересни, интересни социални връзки се развиват в книгата - полицаят, добрият инспектор е точно такъв, какъвто е Ед, иначе няма да е интересно.

Really enjoyed this book. It was a bit different to Ben Elton's usual fayre. Interesting whodunnit, murder story, although I did have a clue who the murderer was. Still, very injoyable.

В книге больше описания женских грудей и секса, чем расследования. Автор убил половину Лондона, а вместо расследования детективы отправляются на выходные и обсуждают work life balance …

Excellent read-could not put it down and now working my way through the rest of Ben Elton's books.

Where to start this review? It’s a hard book to categorise.
Ben Elton's renown comes from his comedy writing but there is not a lot of comedy here. There are some very funny moments but on the whole this is a very dark tale.
Insp Ed Newson, 5’ 4” tall and a carrot top to boot suffers greatly from a lack of self esteem, with respects to the fair sex, but makes up for it with an amazing intelligent, analytical mind.
Insp Newson and his Sergeant ‘Natasha’, whom Newson worships from a far, are investigating some really brutal, bizarre murders. It turns out that all these murders have one thing in common. All the deceased were violent bullies in their school years and the killer has used the same torture on the deceased that they themselves employed as bullies.

Along the way we get an insight into Ed’s insecurities and also a look at, the not so perfect, love life of Natasha.

Along with the violence, comedy and unrequited love there is some, very in your face, sex passages which will leave the pure of heart blushing to their core. Not me of course!!!!

At its core this points a very accusatory finger at the bullies of the world and highlights how destructive bullying is, not only in the short term but the long term damage it also does.

A dark tale indeed but one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Highly recommended 5 star read.

Thriller/romance. Black comedy highlighting social issues as it delves into bullying and how it shapes all our lives. Good character insights.

Enjoyed the modern touch of using an old school reunion website. Great easy read with a lot of laugh out loud moments.

For some reason that I don't recall, about ten years ago I bought four Ben Elton novels with genuine excitement but I never managed to open them and since then they have sat on my bookshelf untouched and hardly thought of. Now, in an effort to minimise my book footprint, I figure I ought to read them before sending them on to new homes.

This book had two appealing characteristics, short chapters and a murder mystery. Apart from its coarse language and the preoccupation with sex in the main sub plot this book felt very much written for a young adult audience. The relationships and interactions between characters came across as rather immature although the story itself offers a few unexpected astute observations about society, about bullying and police work in particular.

And there I was trying to enjoy a murder mystery when all of a sudden I was vigorously thrust out of my comfort zone and hopelessly trying to flick past pages describing in obscene detail a fisting and golden shower session. Hey, they put explicit language warnings on my CDs.... why can't I get a warning for this shit on my books? I have a strong aversion to avoid DNF but I nearly pulled the pin when this wandered into pornographic fiction territory.

I'm not offended by this kind of smut, I just really don't enjoy reading about it. However, I am glad that I persisted with the book because it was at times genuinely funny and overall kind of intense, crazy and even a little tragic.

I have to admit that I picked the killer from their very first mention in the book but I did enjoy the read and the final chapters certainly had the pace and urgency of a thriller.

The problem with good books is that they never last very long!

Ben Elton is the perfect example of that...although being fairly long, I devour his books so quickly that enjoyment seems over far too fast! This being the second Ben Elton book I have read, I am struck by how vastly different the plots were (Two Brothers was excellently researched historical fiction), but they are both immensely entertaining. This story follows Detective Inspector Newson in his investigation of a series of interesting murders, but this is not like any other crime novel. Elton manages to weave a romantic thread, and humour into what would otherwise be an extremely sinister story. It has been a long time since I have stayed up waaay past my bedtime because I can't bear to put a book down.

This was so "compulsively readable" that I will now be on the hunt for more Ben Elton novels to discover!

A well-executed theme mix of bullying, revenge-fueled vigilantism and the vanity of high school status. It(s what keeps bringing me back to this page-turner from my twenties to my thirties.

A different view

Ben Elton has a way of taking a concept we all know if and looking at it from a completely different perspective and in this novel he has done so again. An enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.