Incompetence (Gollancz S.F.): Amazon.co.uk: Rob Grant: 9780575074194: Books

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Rob Grant Page

Product Description

Review

'Crime Fantasy Fawlty Towers-style' (DAILY MIRROR )

'A revolutionary black comedy... he is spookily similar to that other science ficiton writer... Douglas Adams' (Paul Pickering THE DAILY EXPRESS )

'It's a tequila-sniffing, lemon-in-the-eye kind of affair - all wrong, but so right' (MAXIM )

'Who needs Red Dwarf? Rob Grant doesn't any more...' (SFX )

'A surreal, Monty Python-esque detective novel peppered with laugh-out-loud gags and elaborately conceived, vastly silly set-pieces' (DREAMWATCH )

'The jokes comes thick and fast' (Scotland on Sunday )

'Satire abounds in this consistently amusing comedy of errors' (Starburst )

Paul Pickering, THE DAILY EXPRESS

'A revolutionary black comedy... he is spookily similar to that other science ficiton writer... Douglas Adams'

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

(What's this?)

Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)

red dwarf(60)

comedy(50)

science fiction(46)

craig charles(35)

chris barrie(35)

robert llewellyn(30)

cat(19)

doug naylor(14)

anorexia(3)

diet(3)

Customer Reviews

34 Reviews

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (34 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignorance is bliss - Incompetence is better., 27 Feb 2004

By

"vikki80" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Incompetence (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)

Rob Grant is one of the best comedy writers I have seen, better than Ben Elton in my opinion. His style and humour are brilliant and he would have had me rolling about on the floor in hysterical laughter if it wasn't for all the dog hair.

The book is based on Europe in the not distant enough future, Europe is now known as the United States of Europe and incompetence is a way of life. Political correctness has gone mad and discrimination is not allowed no matter what a persons sex, age, race or incompetence. In fact the worse you do the quicker you will climb the ever so slippery ladder of sucess. This is a bit of a problem for Harry Salt, you see he is actually good at his job - too good! Harry Salt (just one of his many identities but the one he goes by mostly in the book) is an agent working for an establishment mearly known as The Agency. He's abit like a private detective but with a bigger expense account, more authority and the ability to dispose of anyone in his way - okay so not very much like a private detective but he does solve crimes, and a hell of a lot better than the police.

The plot is predictable and the solution even more so, but it is not that that makes the book a worthwile read. It is the journey there and the characters Harry meets along the way that will have you in stitches within minutes.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment (1)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not everyone will get it, 27 Oct 2004

By

Kevin Boone "Software developer and consultant" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Incompetence (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)

I don't normally write reviews, but I was moved to do so in this case after reading some of the earlier comments. In short, there's nothing at all wrong with this book except that it isn't Red Dwarf. But, you know, we have to accept the fact that nothing else will ever be RD, and move on. A suitable period of mourning has elapsed, I think.

Although Incompetence has a plot, of sorts, it isn't really that important. And maybe the characters are a bit like cardboard cutouts, but that isn't important either. Incompetence is really a vehicle for the author to make jokes about situations that piss him off. Now, if you can identify with these situations, you'll find the book funny. If you can't, you won't. No particular life experience was necessary to be able to appreciate RD. You may, or may not, have enjoyed its particular brand of lavatory humour and insults; but if you didn't, it probably wasn't because you don't have sufficient life skills. But Incomptence only makes sense, I think, if you have a particular mind-set, and have seen a bit of the world. For example, if you don't understand why the idea of a caterer being compelled to employ a waiter with Tourette's syndrome is funny, it won't help if someone explains it to you. Either you get it or you don't.

For my part, I started laughing from the first paragraph, and carried on laughing until the last page. In places I laughed so hard I thought I'd swallow my own eyeballs. At the same time, I can imagine a bunch of RD fans scratching their heads, and complaining that there's only one fart joke in the whole book.

In summary, the humour in this book is more like that in Dilbert than in Red Dwarf. Like Dilbert, the plot and the characters are sketchy. Also, like Dilbert, if you don't understand it, it's because it's about you. :)

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 17 Feb 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Incompetence (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

If you liked Red Dwarf; think PC has got out of hand, and politicians have lost track of the realities of real word, you will love this.

The story line is thin, but that doesn’t matter in the slightest, because it’s the ideas and descriptions that make this the funniest book I have read for quite some time. Hopefully someone will turn it into a film…

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 34 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Would you like to see more reviews about this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars

Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars simple good fun
Before writing books Rob Grant created the TV show "Red Dwarf" . If you know the show you might got an idea what he comes up with in a book. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Frank Wetzig