My hospital read! I spent a day and night in hospital for tonsillitis, and managed to read through this book (though there's not a whole lot to do in hospital!).
Originally this book was destined for a 3 star, but the last 5th of the book started to really pull the story together and made for quite a fun and gripping ending.
I selected this book to read because it was Ben Elton, and I'd read a few of his books before and was expecting satirical, witty and possibly funny. I did not expect this book! The characters are certainly witty, but there's no comedy to be found. This is a dark detective story.
The story did feel a little crowded for the first half, it follows the protagonist Edward Newson, a detective inspector and a good one to boot. Newson is extremely well centred with respect to his work, and it makes him a good detective.
In his personal life, he's off centre, but as the reader, I found his judgement quite questionable - and I'm not 100% sure if his character arc leaves him any better at the end.
At the surface of the story, we have a murder mystery. A pretty graphically gruesome murder. Then there's some very strong elements of sex - and very graphic hardcore sex (which, I didn't really realise I was signing up to). Then there's a heavy bullying theme: how if affects an individual decades on, how the bullies continue to live, if they can move past it, whether it's rooted to their soul or not. Then there's unrequited love. Then there's nostalgia and reaching into the past and trying to rekindle feelings of hope and love and happiness.
So…yeah, it felt a little crowded.
Thankfully the last quarter somehow manages to pull a lot of the themes together (and drops a few on the way).
In the end, I enjoyed the story and enjoyed the gripping ending. It did all tie up a little too nicely, but then it's a story, so why shouldn't it?! :)
14 Highlight(s)
A ginger, in fact, but not ginger in a fierce Celtic-type manner, more ginger in a 'look at that ginger shortarse' sort of way.
but in the main that night Newson and his classmates were straight and sober. Youth and Christmas were all the stimulants they needed.
They thought they'd be young for ever but time was on the starting blocks, the long, lazy, sun-drenched childhood stroll from the pavilion was nearly over and soon the sprint that was adulthood would begin.
Youth was so very fleeting, but what an impression it left. It was as if the rest of a person's life was merely a pale reflection of its promise.
'Amazing how maggots just seem to materialize out of thin air, eh?' observed Newson. 'Yes. Like wheel clampers.'
Newson was discovering that the past exerted a powerful force. Its reach was long and its grip was tight.
'Were you pissed?' 'We didn't get pissed when we were fourteen.' 'Shit, we did.'
'The mills of God grind slowly but they grind exceeding small.'
'It's the world, isn't it? Everything's the same. Same crap, different toilet.'
'But the gap between "This is delicious," and, "Oh God, I wish I hadn't done that," is so short.'
'But nonetheless all five of our victims were to a greater or lesser degree shits.' 'Yes. What we seem to have here is a serial killer with taste.'
Christine was staring around, wide eyed. 'Thank you. Thank you,' she said. 'This really is an amazing treat.' 'No credit to me, Christine. All I did was abuse the confidence and trust that Her Majesty has placed in me in order to gain favours to which I have no right.'
Angie Tatum had joined Friends Reunited and despite the fact that she was dead her entry remained on the list.
Death makes a mockery of personal vanity