Past Mortem

When will America discover Ben Elton? As far as I know, none of his books have been published here and they are only available as imports. "Past Mortem" doesn't quite reach the heights of "Dead Famous," but it's a first rate page-turner with heavy dollops of wit and style, and characters who leap off the page. If P.G. Wodehouse wrote sexy serial-killer thrillers, he might have come up with something like this. It's miles above the godawful tripe being served up by American hacks like James Patterson, whose junk stares out at us from every airport book rack.

I always pick 2 novels to take on my annual 2 week holiday and read one in each week ( I take my time). So this year I picked Past Mortem (along with You Are Here by Steve Horsfall). I have never read a book by Ben Elton before, but this blew me away - it's funny, touching and risque with a great comment on how the past catches us all up at some point ( centred in this case around the Friends Reunited phenomenom). The whodunnit leaves you guessing to the end. I read it in 2 days ( and You Are Here in 3). I'll need to buy more books next year!!!

A brilliant read - I read it in 2 sittings (and I'm not refering to the toilet). Having read all of his books (with the exception of STARK would you believe!) I continue to be engrossed in them. They all flow with the same fluid 'not reading but watching tele' ease. Past Mortem is no exception and it is truely a book you cant put down. The sex scene with Ed and Helen had me in stitches. Rather than a turn on, Elton turned it into a hilarious chapter. Ed fumbling 'oh...ok' to a rather bizzare request had me rolling! Yes, there are gruesome details but in the hands of Ben Elton those details do not so much as shock but add to the colour of the story. In any other crime writers hands, the way the murders were committed would be shocking to the point of sick. The only gripe I have about the book is the ending. It did get very predictable and you cant help but know who the killer is. There are so many clues it becomes too obvious. Infact, it becomes so obvious you begin to wonder if its actually not that character at all. The ending is also weak. The plot to catch the killer is weak and rushed. The end is over way too soon. But dont let that put you off in the slightest. Its one of his best. I do kind of miss 'wrrrick' though!

Just recently I'd received Past-mortem for Christmas and only hours ago finished reading it. I didn't start reading straight away, but about a week ago, now a week has passed and I have to say it is one of the best crime fiction novels I've read. The blend of crime, sex and romance is flawless, the characters are real and the investigation draws you in and keeps you guessing right to the end. Well I managed to guess the obvious...but the obvious could be different for anybody. Edward Newson is both on the case of brutal murder as well has his lonely, uneventful life. He lives day by day trying to track down the killer whilst mulling over his junior partner he secretly love, and by night attempts to track down an old girlfriend of his youth over the internet on Friends Reunited. As the story progresses, the killer strikes again, and Edwards old class comes together, "old feuds and passions burn fiercely again." This is not a novel for the faint heart due to the gory content and extreme sex-capades Ben Elton has added to the book. But it is an easy read, the writing driving head first into the story and not wasting time with bland description, keeping the book to 300 odd pages but 300 pages of worth while story and character development. Ben Elton is one of the finest writers of this age.