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Product Description
Review
'What makes Fforde a star is not his ebullient cleverness, but the elusive sympathy factor. However ridiculous his themes seem, his characters have a compelling immediacy.'
(Independent )'It would be hard not to be won over by Fforde's undeniable energy and the sheer, unrelenting number of gags'
(Daily Mail )'Fforde is inventive and hugely funny.'
(The Times )'THE FOURTH BEAR is a great choice as it has everything - humour, intrigue and cucumbers as a matter of national security . . . will have you wondering how you haven't discovered Fforde before.'
(Anys Scoular, Observer )'THE FOURTH BEAR sees one of our funniest and most inventive authors at the height of his powers. The jokes come so fast that it is clear the author simply let his imagination off the leash and had a great time while writing it. You will have a great time reading it too.'
(Daily Express )'With its witty literary allusions, social satire and blurred boundaries between fiction and reality, it's all completely mad, very funny . . . It also adds to Fforde's growing reputation as one of Britain's most inventive novelists and the thriller element keeps you guessing too.'
(Word )Praise for Jasper Fforde's new crime series (: )
'I love it. THE BIG OVER EASY is great not just because it's very funny...but also because it works properly as a whodunit...Comic genius.' (Observer )
'A riot of puns, in-jokes and literary allusions that Fforde carries off with aplomb' (Daily Mail )
'This is the first of best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.'
(Daily Mirror )'Fforde's dexterously tailored nonsense has an underlying thread of shrewd satire, and the author's own wry, dry narration helps to compensate for the omission in this abridgement of so many of his gloriously surreal jokes.'
(The Times )'This novel is a wonderful combination of silliness and cleverness, and a delightful holiday from reality. It's got such a good comic premise that it would work even if played straight, but virtually every page is adorned with puns, gags, tongue-twisters or comic setpieces, keeping the reader in a perpetual state of amusement.'
(Independent on Sunday )Product Description
The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, convicted murderer and cake/biscuit - is loose on the streets of Reading.
It isn't Jack Spratt's case. Despite the success of the Humpty Dumpty investigation, the well publicised failure to prevent Red Riding-Hood and her Gran being eaten once again plunges the Nursery Crime Division into controversy. Enforced non-involvement with the Gingerbreadman hunt looks to be frustrating until a chance encounter at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldy' Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Toad.
The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. Are the unexplained explosions around the globe somehow related to missing nuclear scientist Angus McGuffin? Is cucumber-growing really that dangerous? Why are National Security involved? But most important of all: How could the bears' porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time? (20050619)
It isn't Jack Spratt's case. Despite the success of the Humpty Dumpty investigation, the well publicised failure to prevent Red Riding-Hood and her Gran being eaten once again plunges the Nursery Crime Division into controversy. Enforced non-involvement with the Gingerbreadman hunt looks to be frustrating until a chance encounter at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldy' Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Toad.
The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. Are the unexplained explosions around the globe somehow related to missing nuclear scientist Angus McGuffin? Is cucumber-growing really that dangerous? Why are National Security involved? But most important of all: How could the bears' porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time? (20050619)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's quite simple: Jasper Fforde knows how to write well. That's it. All the quirky elements to his universe are secondary to his engaging and etertaining style. The fact that the universe measures up is a bonus.
I cannot wait for more from the NCD. The stories are so well crafted that it must be difficult to keep the standard high, but so far in this series, and the Thursday Next series, Fforde has not disappointed.
I cannot wait for more from the NCD. The stories are so well crafted that it must be difficult to keep the standard high, but so far in this series, and the Thursday Next series, Fforde has not disappointed.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Following on seamlessly from A Big Over Easy (the first book in the NCD series), The Fourth Bear picks up the story again only a few weeks later. The NCD shone in the brief glory of the Humpty Dumpty case before suffering unfavourable press after the debacle that was the three little pigs murder charge fiasco.
The story starts with the escape of the psycopathic Gingerbreadman from St Cerabellums, a woefully inadequate mental hospital where he has been held for the last twenty years. At the same time, Jack Spratt and Mary Mary start to investigate the disappearance of Goldilocks and how cucumbers tie into the whole story.
Jack also is having trouble at home with Punch and Judy move in next door and his daughter about to marry the Titan Prometheus.
If you enjoyed The Big Over Easy then you shouldn't hesitate in buying this book as well, it's as silly and as funny and just as entertaining. A definite good read!
The story starts with the escape of the psycopathic Gingerbreadman from St Cerabellums, a woefully inadequate mental hospital where he has been held for the last twenty years. At the same time, Jack Spratt and Mary Mary start to investigate the disappearance of Goldilocks and how cucumbers tie into the whole story.
Jack also is having trouble at home with Punch and Judy move in next door and his daughter about to marry the Titan Prometheus.
If you enjoyed The Big Over Easy then you shouldn't hesitate in buying this book as well, it's as silly and as funny and just as entertaining. A definite good read!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jasper Fforde's ingenious "Thursday Next series is showing some signs of running out of steam: the pseudoscience of hopping into fictional universes can eventually pall. What a good idea, then, to take the best bits of the "Thursday" series: interaction between well known characters from books, tongue-in-cheek investigations, continuing ,likeable protagonists, and transplant these elements into a new series, without the convoluted backstory from "Lost In A Good Book" and the rest of the "Next" novels.
And so, we have "The Fourth Bear" the second instalment in the "Nursery Crimes" series, featuring (mainly) characters from traditional children's stories rather than from Dickens or the Brontes. Here Fforde worries less about explanations and just exploits the odd but amusing scenario he has created. A fun read, packed with groan inducing puns (e.g. the law of "the right to arm bears")as well as thrills and spills.
It is impossible to dislike a book in which when one character dies, and his mysterious final words are "It's full of holes!", it is suggested he may have been talking about "the plot."
Perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be, this spoof detective novel featuring Jack Spratt does, in fact, carry a bit of fat.(E.g. the subplots about the alien race living in Berkshire don't really go anywhere.)But generally, this is an entertaining and engaging read.
And so, we have "The Fourth Bear" the second instalment in the "Nursery Crimes" series, featuring (mainly) characters from traditional children's stories rather than from Dickens or the Brontes. Here Fforde worries less about explanations and just exploits the odd but amusing scenario he has created. A fun read, packed with groan inducing puns (e.g. the law of "the right to arm bears")as well as thrills and spills.
It is impossible to dislike a book in which when one character dies, and his mysterious final words are "It's full of holes!", it is suggested he may have been talking about "the plot."
Perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be, this spoof detective novel featuring Jack Spratt does, in fact, carry a bit of fat.(E.g. the subplots about the alien race living in Berkshire don't really go anywhere.)But generally, this is an entertaining and engaging read.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Another one?
I liked this, don't get me wrong. It's a good read and I love Fforde's continuing experiment with what might happen if you bring fictional characters into the 'real' world, but... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Jazz
Once upon a time in Reading.
If you've enjoyed The Big Over Easy, then you're in for a treat with this. Fforde takes the modern detective novel and throws a unique twist by setting his story in the middle... Read more
Published 16 months ago by A. Marczak
"We tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious...
So says Lord Henry Wotton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." He is speaking of his wife, whom he meets occasionally, when they "dine out together, or go down to the Duke's," but he... Read more
Published 21 months ago by L. E. Cantrell
Lots of fun and mystery too
Take a break from the raw blood and gore of Millar, Bruen and Deaver and laugh yourself silly with Fforde. Read more
Published 21 months ago by R. E. Conary
Nursery rhyme crime
Heard about this book and the book in the series before on local radio. The author certainly brought the subject to life but I was a little disappointed when I read it but then I... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by B. A. Bloodworth
Tried but gave up
I loved all of Jasper Fforde's other books including The Big Over Easy, however I gave up before the end with this one. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Mrs. S. Partridge
Nursery madness
A huge fan of Jasper FForde and I think I might be in the minority but I actually prefer the nursery crimes series to Thursday Next. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2009 by book_fan1001
A Fantastic Fantasy
If you allow your credibility to be suspended, you will find this a hugely pleasurable and fantastic romp through a familiar world unfamiliarly co-populated by nursery-tale... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2009 by D S Allen
not quite to form
Way better than First Among Sequels which was a disappointment. But still not quite up to scratch. I was not sure if the dialogue was tongue in cheek or just plain clunky at times,... Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2008 by Mr. H. Jones
Fantastic! Read them all!!!
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Just about the best writer alive. So funny, so clever and he can get away with anything absurd. Read more
Published on 27 July 2008 by PetShopChap
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