Books : Past Mortem

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Author name: Ben Elton

: Past Mortem
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780593050965
ISBN number: 0593050967
Label: Transworld Publishing houses
Manufacturer: Transworld Publishing houses
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 359
Printing Date: May 01, 2005
Publishing house: Transworld Publishing houses
Release Date: November 29, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 331277
Studio: Transworld Publishing houses



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Editor's Notes and Comments:

Product Description:
In romantic desperation, mild-mannered detective Edward Newson logged on to the 'Friends Reunited' website searching for the girlfriends of his youth. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. A school reunion is planned, and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Past Mortem is both a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance.




Customer Reviews
User popularity level: out of 5 stars

Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - Miles above the average thriller
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 very 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.


Rated by buyers 3 out of 5 stars - Funny but an easy whodunit
You can always count on a few good laugh-out-loud one-liners in a Ben Elton novel and you'll get a few from Past Mortem, but the "mystery" won't exactly keep you guessing. The killer's motivation and identity become obvious fairly early in the piece.
As usual, Elton has picked an atypical hero - in this case "ginger shortarse" Ed Newsom. But, despite the fact that Ed is consistently described as funny, he's actually only given a handful of funny lines. As mentioned by a few other reviewers, the "bullying is bad" message does get repetitive and you do feel like you're getting beaten over the head with it (much like one of the unfortunate murder victims!). Also, there were a few irritating editing errors, eg "throws" instead of "throes" and one plot point that didn't seem to work - one of the murder victims is supposed to have missed meeting a friend at the pub, but then only his family turns up for his funeral and he's described as being universally hated. What happened to the friend?
But these are minor quibbles. All-in-all, this is a fun enough beach/plane read.


Rated by buyers 1 out of 5 stars - A predictable and preachy bore
Ben Elton can certainly write -- but this one's a dud.

If you're an Elton fan, you'll already know that his "formula" relies on taking a controversial issue, and presenting it to us sideways, through the eyes of some unforgettable characters. In previous novels, he's dealt with drugs, the environment, and traffic, (High Society, Stark, Gridlock) and they were all great reads.

In this novel he slips up, because the "issue" he chooses is bullying -- which of course is an issue that no-one "disagrees" on. Unlike drugs or the environment or even driving around in cars, we all agree that bullying is bad and should be stopped. Elton has stepped away from his winning formula, and the results are substandard.

Not even Elton's trademark quirky characters can save the story, his "socially inept but brilliant detective" and his "emotionally damaged but brilliant social worker" are straight from central casting.

And then there's the "crime novel" format. If you haven't guessed "whodunnit" by page 130, then quite honestly you're not paying attention. Out of the twenty-two people I know who've read the novel (the members of two book groups) only one didn't guess who the serial killer was well before the end. Guessing the ending completely destroys the last half of the book, and makes finishing it a chore.

I enjoy Ben Elton's work -- I'll buy his subsequent novel if it's not another endeavor at crime fiction -- but this one's a predictable and preachy bore.


Rated by buyers 2 out of 5 stars - Ben Elton's worst book
I have read all of Ben Elton's previous books, have enjoyed his stand-up comedy, his play Pop Corn and his musical We will Rock You. All that stuff was great and tremendously funny! When I read this, his latest work I was really disappointed. It was truly his worst, and would recommend to anyone who has not read any of his works: Do not start with this one!

Although it was witty, it was generally too far-fetched and simply very predictable. I knew how the murder mystery would evolve one third into the book.. Please Ben, stick to funny, stick to temporal fiction and your hilarious vocabulary, but stay away from murder mystery, as the genre clearly does not become you.



Rated by buyers 5 out of 5 stars - An American Reviewer Mouths Off
I don't know much about Ben Elton, but I've read a few of his books before, including the last few detective novels. The novel about the BIG BROTHER house I've reviewed for Amazon, and this one is almost as good as the last. Technically speaking the previous book DEAD FAMOUS took more chances, was more daring in conception and in execution. And this one has, for some reason, a fisting scene in the middle of it that's explicit enough to warrant an X rating, if books still carried such, and yet all in all I prefer the present nook, if only for the charm and wit of the central romance.

Edward Newson is a detective inspector for Scotland Yard, the youngest ever in such a post, even though everyone he meets doubts he's cop because, well, "er . . . isn't there a height restriction?" Apparently not, because Ed is only about five foot four, more of a Hobbit than an Inspector Morse. His second in command is a lovely police sergeant, Natasha Wilkiem whose personal life is a bit of a mess. She has a boyfriend called Lance who's not averse to beating her up a little, when he doesn't get his way. Ed doesn't know how to proceed with Natasha, who occupies all his thoughts day and night. If he says anything, he's afraid she'll laugh him down, for she's way out of his league in terms of looks and sex appeal; and also he's afraid if he leans on her, not that he would, she would have grounds to complain about him for sexual harassment. However, all of this becomes moot when Ed is assigned to what becomes the biggest case of his career.

It seems that the ones getting murdered are all (or were, years ago) horrid bullies as teens. Are the victims finally striking back and torturing the bullies as they were tortured when only children? And what does the Friends Reunited web site have to do with this? Here in the US, I'm not familiar with the Friends School phenomenon which must, if the evidence of this book is to be trusted, be sweeping the country, and all old schoolmates must know now where all their fellow alumni are living and what all of them are doing. I suppose there are similar organizations and websites here in the States, but not on such a scale.

Elton keeps you guessing and, despite the claims of other reviewers, the culprit is a surprise. You'll guess everyone else but the right one! I hope that our police love birds return for another case, but I don't know if Elton has the patience or the steady hand to create a series detective. He's a wild card that one, and that's the way we like him.

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