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| Ben Elton |
Past Mortem by Ben Elton  Edward "Spewsome" Newsome, a high-ranking (but young, short and ginger) policeman, tries to solve a series of unique murders, whilst lusting after his assistant Natasha, and having affairs with old schoolmates , met up via the Friends Reunited web site. Soon, his personal and professional lives collide. Elton always writes page-turners, with superb dialogue, and extremely erotic sex scenes (disconcerting, given his public image). His take on contemporary society is usually both mature and amusing - in top form, he writes classic satire. Overall, a bit too predictable - I could see the connection coming at page 75 - and not as bitingly satirical, funny or suspenseful as his "Dead Famous". But it makes you think, and entertains you, and that's never a bad thing. By anyone else, this would be a good book - by Elton's normal standard, just average. 8/10 then - definitely worth a buy, but not his best work. Also by Ben Elton  Dead Famous by Ben Elton In Eltons new novel, the barnstorming reality TV show House Arrest (somewhat similar to Big Brother...) suffers a slight hiccup when one of the one of the housemates is killed live on TV. Police Inspector Coleridge is called in to solve the case - but first he has to learn all about Reality TV and modern culture... Coleridge, an old-fashioned copper whose only hobby is amateur dramatics, acts as a great exposition device, allowing Elton to score dozens of bullseye points about the shallow nature of everyone involved in reality TV - the participants, the producers and of course the audience. And Elton combines these elements with a great deal of suspense - up until the very last chapter I was kept guessing as to the identity of the murderer. Often in his books, you feel the plot is just somewhere he uses to hang his opinions and observations on, but in this case the plot and the points about society are cleverly interlinked. Like Footballers Wives on TV, however, this is an area where satire and reality blend - it's impossible to be too outrageous, the insanity of Big Brother tops the satire of House Arrest all the time. Even so, Elton's sharpness of observation, his always witty and biting dialogue, and his clear sympathy for the normal boring humanity of Coleridge, makes this difficult to put down. One of Elton's best books. 9/10  High Society by Ben Elton Grimmer and bleaker in tone and resolution than most of Elton's other works, this is Elton's Trainspotting - a dystopian satire of modern drug culture. Switching rapidly from one viewpoint to another, he tells a tale of a heroic-but-flawed government MP, trying to create total change by legalising all drugs, whilst telling individual tales of several people involved, peripherally or directly, in the action. Whilst the multiple-viewpoint plot is done with his usual skill, there are a few flaws - the overall plot is facile and predictable, and the solutions proposed simplistic. The political environment is generally less believable than the on-the-street scenes, and Elton's rendering of some characters is overly stereotypical. However, the writing is excellent, Elton always leaves us with a little hope on an individual basis, and most of the targets he aims at are struck true. I didn't like the general tone, but not everything in this world is sweetness and light. 7/10 - great writing, let down a little by a poor plot.       |
| Posted: 19/05/2005 19:41:18 Last Updated: 24/05/2005 16:46:21 |
Chick Lit > Lad Lit Authors :: Ben Elton