Nice set up and characterisation, interesting detective, gets a bit corny at the end though

Pretty gruesome. Liked the dialogue having not lived in UK for so long. Guessed whodunnit about 2/3 way through. Will read more of Elton.

I'm sure I read it but cannot for the love of me remember the story or the plot and the extract does little to boost my memory. I'm sure it was enjoyable...just not memorable.

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12713319

I'm hoping the edition I'm reviewing is the 2hr 54min edition narrated by Ben Miles.

I was looking for audiobooks narrated by Ben Miles after a Coupling re-watch and found this one. I've enjoyed some Ben Elton books before so figured I'd give it a shot.

To be clear, this is abridged so I can't fairly judge the full book and I'll try to stay spoiler free.

The main character is a bit pathetic, he is a letch and quite meek although he has his moments. His police partner is much of the same. Neither are especially likeable and you don't find yourself routing for them in the book.

The murderer is kind of obvious. I don't think you could get it from the second chapter like another reviewer but it wasn't a surprise at the end. He acted in a very odd way for a successful long-term serial killer though. Killing a person every few months and then a bunch of people relating to an investigating detective within days. Seemed odd.

This book is very dated too. Friend's Reunited plays a big roll, now defunct, CDs get mentioned a lot, laughable computer security, apparently no competition commission for businesses etc. It's not Elton's fault but when people are going "Gosh, a computer, I've never touched one." It does seem weird.

There's also the comically violent bullying (everyone seems to ignore a kid getting stabbed and admitted to hospital for blood poisoning) and the really heavy handed message about it that the book tries to get across. Honestly, by the end of it you lose sympathy for the bullied characters because they whinge so much.

The rest of the book seems to flit between coincidence and lazy writing as the main character is pulled along for the ride. The police side seemed poorly researched too; I can't imagine a young woman being used as serial killer bait with a squad of armed police ready to leap out of a van and her only communication to be to the walky-talky of one cop who is out of sight of all the other police. Just stupid.

I never read abridged normally but I was glad of it in the end because the book ended more quickly. Ben Miles' narration was decent enough.

This book has a riveting plot, well-constructed, with good humour. Unfortunately a very dark and explicit sexual side is described in detail, which I found disturbing and off-putting.

Enjoyable although Not the greatest mystery of whodunit.

Predictable and derivative as e wry other Ben Elton book but a harmless enough enjoyable read. Guessed the ending after a couple of chapters though.

Not one of Eltons best but still entertaining...

This was a good read, but guessed the end far too early. That said, still enjoyed reading it

To be clear - a very good 3/5 borders on 4/5. Ben Elton books are always just super fun and easy to read and this is no exception. This one’s definitely less outright funny than the other Elton books I’ve read but is still amusing and on similar lines of social satire and maybe I’ve just missed a lot of the humour because it’s not a social area I’ve experienced yet.

Legitimately didn’t see the final reveal coming so more than satire the book is also a good detective novel but that alone isn’t a genre I’m that interested in. Overall it’s a good read but not as enjoyable as Gridlock or Chart Throb which blend the genres in a better way in my opinion.

Also while it’s very readable my copy had a printing error that contradicted itself within the same paragraph - I think just a typo “not” at some point or maybe I just can’t read idk.

It's been many years since I've read a Ben Elton book but I remember enjoying his work and thinking he was a good writer. My view hasn't changed on reading this one; his story was inventive with a likeable lead character and a very intriguing set of murders.

For me the book divided into two parts- the first being Detective Inspector Newsome investigating some pretty horrific murders, the second being Newsome as he explores old memories and reconnects with some of his school friends on Friends Reunited. The former was really well written; it astounded me how Elton could think of such terrible ways to murder people but it was fascinating, however I guessed who the murderer was very early on in the book so I got a little frustrated with how long it took for them to crack it. The second part of the book I found quite irritating, the way the characters spoke and interacted with each other just sounded so fake and I found myself wanting to hurry through to the next murder.

Overall it was a good book, however some annoyances with it mean it wouldn't be one I'd read again.