The Review…..

Past Mortem by Ben Elton

This is by my calculation Elton’s 9^th novel and probably his best yet. I have followed Ben Elton’s career with interest since the 80’s because quite simply I am a big fan of his Motormouth comedy style. I loved his satire in the 80’s and his tirades against Thatch and her gang seemed to sum up the futility of my generations feelings about what was being dismantled around us – little things like the manufacturing industry, the mining industry, community spirit, whole communities and introducing s dividedness into Britain which exists to this very day – the huge gap between the Haves and Have-Nots. Over the years I have been to see him on stage several times and each time he has been superb and left me with tears running down my face. PC? A bit. Toilet Humour? Absolutely! One thing is for sure, he has settled into a softer middle aged with the inclusion of marriage and kids in his life, but as a comedian of my generation I expected this to occur to him, as it did to me and my loyalty remains undimmed.

Sure, he has written some musicals with Lloyd Webber, and wrote the scripts behind the Rod Stewart and Queen musicals, both of which were savaged by the critics but are still raking in full houses and loads of money to the theatres staging them. I never really understood the criticisms of these shows. Its as if the Theatre is the sole preserve of “new” stuff by Lloyd Webber, whereas quite frankly I’d much rather have a night out listening to songs that I know and love, and have played a big part in my life especially during the growing up years. I haven’t seen either show yet, so I will not comment on their respective merits or otherwise. This type of criticism just reinforces my bemusement at people my age who rave on about how good the “new” stuff is whilst denigrating the stuff they grew up with in some sad desperate measure of their desire to be “down with the kids”. These are same sort of knobbers who criticise The Manic Street Preachers or U2, whilst parading their faux indie-ness and street cred by wearing badges of The Fall or other dull arsed wannabee untalented musical whores like The Libertines – yeah very original them, that’s never been done before has it?

Anyway, I digress, back to the book. Elton has a fantastic knack of writing stories around contemporary issues and his novels have covered topics such as the environment, globalisation, media and entertainment, drugs, reality TV and now with this one the phenomenon of Friends Reunited linked with the increasing worry of bullying. He covers this topic very subtly, and you’re halfway through before you realise it’s bullying that’s at the heart of the plotline. In effect it’s masquerading as a good old fashioned serial killer being investigated by cynical and methodical copper, albeit a short arsed ginger haired one who’s working relationship with his partner is complicated by the fact the he has fallen in love with her. He finds himself at the very heart of the serial killers incredibly sadistic methods of murder and apparently unrelated victims and the unrelenting build up to the climax means that in the excellent tradition of murder mysteries, any one of about 5 people are the suspects as you head toward the last few pages. Elton keeps the chapters at the right length and the ease of the read is in his skill in not chopping and changing between scenarios in between chapters. In fact I found it very hard to not read the whole thing in one sitting, such was the pace and intrigue set up in the plotline and writing.

One thing that is lacking in the book is the usual level of wry humour expected from Elton and in this respect this is a step up for him, although personally I hope he does keep the humour going in future books. Being able to make people laugh is a real and rare talent and one which he shouldn’t jettison too freely. All of his previous books have contained several laugh out loud moments, including some that have made me look like a right nutter in embarrassing places like trains or hotel restaurants. It is also the most adult of his books so far by virtue of the first real attempt at writing sex scenes and the first time that sexuality is really covered in any of his books to date. As you would expect though Ben Elton does not write the scenes as the most romantic and rose tinted scenes ever, and gritty realism is a better description of how he writes them, and in this case openly describing the rather extreme acts (in my view) of …ahem….fisting and felching. The latter being a new one on me, and ….errrr…quite an eye opener as well!

Overall I’d give this book 9 out of 10 and this just pips ahead of his previous 2 books Dead Famous and High Society. The real test will be if I enjoy it second and third times like all of his previous books.

A great book for those whom like to be entertained without being lectured or bored into submission.

Later , GrocerJack