- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Corgi; New edition edition (3 Oct 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0552142131
- ISBN-13: 978-0552142137
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.4 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 262,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The latest and zaniest and bestest Rankin!
Product Description
DANNY: PORTRAIT OF A SURREAL KILLER Danny's not sad and lonely any more because Danny's got 'the voices'. Well, one voice. It's the voice of his dog. Not that it's a real dog, Danny's mother would never let him have a real dog, so Danny made up one for himself. And a fine big dog it is too, with a waggy tail and a nice cold nose. Danny was going to call it Princey, but the dog told him its name was Demolition. So that's what Danny calls it. And the dog's told him other things too. Like how to adjust the bar-code reader in the shop where Danny works so that he can read the lines on people's palms and Danny can see what they're thinking. And which small ads in the comic books to send off to, so Danny can become irresistible to women, bend others to his will, gain vital inches and fear no man living. No, Danny's not sad and lonely any more. Danny's barking mad. Robert Rankin has been described variously as 'Funnier than Aleister Crowley, more dangerous than P.G. Wodehouse' (Cardinal Cox, EP Magazine), 'The drinking man's H.G. Wells' (Midweek) and 'An irregular genius' (David Profumo, The Daily Telegraph). His 13th novel is a nightmare journey to hell and back (with only a brief stop at a Happy Eater to use the toilet). Where Natural Born Killers and Silence of the Lambs merely dipped their toes in terror's icy water, Rankin boldly takes his lurex sock off and really puts his foot in it.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Once again Mr Rankin has made us howl for laughter with this splendid, yet original story. He uses puns and running gags which makes anyone who reads unable to stop giggling! The story is about invisibly beings who live on our shoulders with their fingers in our brains. They control us. However, one poor man gets his creature killed by an evil creature which makes him create a dog from human body parts. He however sees the dog as a normal fluffy dog, until he discovers what he has done... A thouroughly good read with twists in the tale and laughs all the way.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robert Rankin’s books are always fairly unhinged affairs, but due to it’s construction A Dog Called Demolition reads even more like the drunken ramblings of a madman than ever before. The main plot is typical Rankin lunacy – inspired by a real life incident in America Rankin gives us a world where serial killers really do commit their crimes under the influence of malevolent voices that command them to kill. Set in Rankin’s usual haunt of Brentford, (though with only cameo appearances from Pooley, Omally and co this standalone novel is accessible for series newcomers), the story concerns unemployed waster Danny’s discovery that a race of parasitic invisible Mekon-like aliens secretly sit on the shoulders of the population, and when a rogue alien called Demolition takes over Danny to construct a synthetic dog out of human body-parts things really start to go haywire…
As if this wasn’t enough Rankin then skews the books structure by including numerous (mostly unrelated) poems and short stories. The poetry is pretty variable to be honest, and Rankin’s trick of deliberately bathetic punchlines becomes a bit predictable after a while, but some of the diverting tall-tales are gems (such as the tenant who constructs an African big game safari in his lodgings, and Hugo Rune’s ‘proof’ that the Earth is the centre of the universe and that full-time employment is a logical impossibility).
As expected, this book as a whole is quite bitty, but despite the odd dud poem for the most part this is a great rambling collection of tall-tales. A little too uneven to be a wholly satisfying novel, but still another solid dose of insanity from the author.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It was only until I got about 3/4 through this book that I started getting into it. I've only read 1 Robert Rankin book before, I wouldn't recommend this book for a Robert Rankin beginner.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Girdon Shuttleworth
Robert Rankin does it again. Extremely funny and totally off the wall. I really would urge everybody to try this author
Published on 8 Nov 2009 by Mr. G. Shuttleworth
Dogs day
Typically Rankin, this story will take you through weird things set in normal places and some familiar characters make their entrances where needed. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2008 by aceadrian
Robert Rankin in his stride
"A Dog Called Demolition" is Robert Rankin in his stride- those who've read Robert Rankin before know you're going to get big helpings of running gags, narrative interruptions,... Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2007 by Mr. Stuart Bruce
An absolute Must!!
Don't listen to any of the reviewers that advise against you starting with this book as a newcomer to Rober Rankin!!! Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2004 by Dave Dark
A review on "A Dog Called Demolition".
When I read this book I was struck by the singular writting style of Robert Ranking. His books are always full of colourful characters and familiar landscapes, and this is no... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2000
Makes you wonder...
This strange and bizarre book which at times seems to go off at a tangent is surprisingly brilliant. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2000
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