- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd; First Edition edition (4 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0434009563
- ISBN-13: 978-0434009565
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 671,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Final Demand
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Deborah Moggach's Final Demand is a bleak, uncompromising novel about the greed and selfishness of Natalie, the novel's tough, street-wise heroine. Natalie, who works for "NuLine Communications", a soulless telecommunications company based in Leeds, is frustrated by the realisation that "the next big thing in her life should be happening but thought time was speeding up, the days whisking past, a breathlessness to them now, [her] life remained doggedly the same". She is pretty and intelligent, but when her boyfriend dumps her and she runs into financial problems, she sees the opportunity to turn her boring job processing cheques to her advantage. But first of all, her ingenious plan requires a husband with a very specific name...
Final Demand is very different from Moggach's enormously successful Tulip Fever, but it catches the amoral, cynical world of Natalie and all the characters that she proceeds to dupe in a series of ever bleaker situations. Natalie's crimes seem small, but Moggach attempts to unravel the ways in which even the most trivial crime can have devastating consequences. At times, the story loses focus as Moggach follows those affected by Natalie's misdemeanours, while her heroine is so thoroughly selfish that it become difficult to sympathise with her plight. However, Final Demand neatly captures the soulless sign of the times. --Jerry Brotton
Sunday Telegraph
‘Moggach combines the vigorous simplicity of her plot with an artist’s alert and subtle eye for the small detail...Moggach’s writing is luminous.’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Moggach's theme here, as in the superb Tulip Fever, is the conflict between greed and love. Natalie is a pretty, ambitious girl working for Nu-Line telecommunications and fed up with her grotty life and dull boyfriend. She yearns for money, and one day gets the idea for a very simple fraud: all she has to do is find a husband with the right initials, and she can cash the cheques mistakenly made out in payment to the company to her own name. The consequences of her fraud ripple out, disastrously.
Less richly satisfying than Tulip Fever, this may disappoint those who wanted another historical novel. Moggach is much better at depicting artists and lovers than she is at making very ordinary, slightly squalid people interesting, but carries your interest by the quality of her style and plotting.
Less richly satisfying than Tulip Fever, this may disappoint those who wanted another historical novel. Moggach is much better at depicting artists and lovers than she is at making very ordinary, slightly squalid people interesting, but carries your interest by the quality of her style and plotting.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Easy - but intelligent - reading, will try other novels by this writer. Not a cliched crime novel, not actually a 'crime novel' at all, more of a psychological study/study of the consequences of seemingly random actions.
It clearly illustrates the reality that one person's acts of of petty selfishness or greed can have a huge impact on other people. I disagree with the view that it is 'preachy' but, if it is, perhaps people should listen to its sermon.
I'm not sure this is a hugely memorable book, but it was certainly stimulating and enjoyable at the time, which is a great deal more than can be said for this year's Booker prize winner (in my humble opinion)!
It clearly illustrates the reality that one person's acts of of petty selfishness or greed can have a huge impact on other people. I disagree with the view that it is 'preachy' but, if it is, perhaps people should listen to its sermon.
I'm not sure this is a hugely memorable book, but it was certainly stimulating and enjoyable at the time, which is a great deal more than can be said for this year's Booker prize winner (in my humble opinion)!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book in a secondhand book shop and took it on holiday - I simply could not put it down until I had finished it! The main character of the novel, Natalie, starts to 'scam' money out of her employers with little thought for the 'ripples' her actions cause to the unwitting 'victims' of her scam, including her husband who she only marries to get a name - this book explores these repercussions superbly. I then passed the book on to several members of my reading group, all of whom sang its praises as well. We all feel sure that it would make an excellent TV mini-series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Upto her usual standard!
DM's books are inciteful, entertaining and relevant. This latest is great! Her character sketches show her to be among the best in the business - not to be missed!
Published 7 months ago by Michael A. Crouch
Well Written and Funny
Having obtained the book at random as part of a book swap (I thought the summary sounded interesting) I found it to be a gripping read. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Johnson
petty crime - major, far reaching consequences
Reading the first sentence I wasn't sure I was going to like this, but it turned out to be a real page turner and a thriller. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2008 by UK reader
Gripping
I sat down one Saturday monring and read Final Demand cover to cover in one sitting, pausing only to make a cup of tea. I found it completely gripping. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2006 by vivsy
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