Book Review

"A light hearted look at murder"

by Mark Watson

I recently booked tickets to see Mark Watson at the Guild Hall near here. He is a brilliant stand up comedian in my opinion and I am totally looking forward to seeing the show...and don't worry readers...if there are any readers (*shouts HELLOOOOOOO*) I will write about the gig after I have been in December. So anyway I wanted to see if there were any dvds of his available on amazon and found after a search that he had written a couple of books. Based just on the title I decided to get my library to search the land for a copy of "A light hearted look at murder". They did and I finished reading it last night...

so now....I can feel the anticipation building....I can tell you what I thought. All sitting comfortably out there in Blogland?

Ok so the book is pretty short, about 300 pages, and is divided into two different sections. The text in these sections is either light or bold and titled either Alexandra or Andreas. Basically it is 2 stories about 2 people that have a link that brings them together

First we have Alexandra who is a researcher for company that makes documentaries...she is the central character of her sphere of the story....she has a brother Dan, who she shares a flat with after falling on hard times. Also in the flat is Dan's best mate, Gareth...and occasionally Dan's girlfriend Trixie. Alexandra herself has a best friend, Helen who works at the same company as she does.

The second universe belongs to Andreas who is a German student, studying American literature at an English university...may have been Cambridge. He is not a great people person and to start with has not many friends on campus...except for maybe Nina who lives in the same student accommodation as him. It is while there that he meets Rose...who is the 5th tallest woman (can't remember if it was in the world or just in the uk) and is instantly attracted to her. Through her he enters the world of professional look-a-likes and he begins a career as a Hitler impersonator. His social world then expands to include many strange people...Charles Steel who lives over a museum and is the tour guide there, Rachel who is Charles' assistant, Robert, the third tallest man who Andreas dislikes, Julian the Jack the Ripper impersonator and several other slightly strange characters.

These two universes collide because Andreas is is prison now and is part of the write-to-a-convict scheme. Alexandra gets involved and, with Gareth as a translator of Andreas' memoirs, she learns more and more about his life. But what was his crime, why is he in there...all will be revealed in the letters.

Ok so that's the basic set up and I am not going to give away any more of the story than that lol ...so what did I think of it I can hear you all cry. Ok well guys and gals I could ramble on and not make much sense but thats not my style....lets bring some order to this:

• Writing style:

The style was easy to read, very human if that makes sense. It was funny in places but, I don't think as funny as some of the quotes on the cover made out. Sometimes these quotes do the film or book a disservice by saying THIS IS LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY...so you go into the experience waiting for that huge laugh and you can end up disappointed...even if you enjoy whatever it is over all. So it was humorous in places but no more than that.

• Character development:

I thought this was a strong point in the book. The characters, no matter how ridiculous, always seemed believable. Also the author had a good eye for detail, and by that I mean emotional as well as physical description. I think there was a lot of realism in there that was good. Some books churn out nothing but stereotypes but this book really went to great lengths to make it so you knew the people and cared about the two leading characters

• Plot:

The plot was a slow burner. It kept you coming back because each translation of Andreas' life added new elements to the plot. This was good and I enjoyed the suspense building gradually - a change from my normal books where disaster has hit the fan within the first few pages. Maybe its a more mature plot for me (AAAARGHHH I'm growing up!!!)

In conclusion:

I think Mark Watson has written a good book here. Its not brilliant, it has its flaws but overall its a solid piece of work and I think it would encourage me to try one of his others. The characters were especially well written and the scene-setting was good. I did feel that the ending was a bit telegraphed - like a TV murder mystery where you have been held in suspense for 95% of it and then you think "well it has to be that guy cause he is the only leading actor left..." I say that as a certified non-genius in the plot twist spotting department...I never guessed that Bruce Willis was a ghost in the sixth sense....I may never live that down ;)

Grace Rating: 7/10