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The surreal plot (no offense to Brentford Football fans) and hummor are present, and as good as ever. In fact I feel this book is a more "polished" and definative effort from Mr Rankin for some time.
I also think this is the book he always wanted to write; taking Brentford to the FA final!
Or does he? Im not telling. Using the 10-0 formation rather than 4-4-2 is always risky business!!
Rankin fans will really, really like this!
If your new to Rankin, probably best to start at the begining of the trilogy (six books back!)
Enjoy.
I think it is safe to say that anyone who did enjoy the previous Brentford books will lap this one up, because it is more of the same, but with some of the ideas from 'The Witches Of Chiswick'. Obviously Pooley and O'Malley are the heroes, along with Professor Slocombe, and Neville and Norman Hartnel (not to be confused with the other Norman Hartnel) feature strongly, but there are appearances by most of the old cast of characters including Small Dave and Archroy. Just about the only person missing is Soap Distant. There is even an extremely brief cameo appearance by Cornelius and Tuppe!
The climax of the story is a football match which is like the famous darts match in the original trilogy but with eleven players on each side, and the council meeting early in the book is a classic scene. (It is easy to think of Rankin books in cinematic terms of scenes and a cast. It must be - all together now - a tradition or an old charter or something.)
Fans of the Brentford Books or Rankin generally will be reading this new book anyway, no matter what any review says, but they are going to enjoy this one. A lot. What I like about Rankin is that he is not afraid to ditch a winning formula and experiment with new situations and a bit of variety, but somehow that just makes it all the more exciting when he does return to his original (and best) situation.
Knees Up Mother Earth is reliable, takes you to some new places, but in a way you are used to, and it would be churlish to dislike it - a veritable Morris Minor of books!
We discover a little more about the infeasibly aged Professor, gain a little more respect for our heroes, and can laugh at the inevitable disasters that befall our familiar characters.
For me, this book worked as well as the originals. Robert Rankin usually manages to have a page where he writes something so bizarre that you just have to stop and laugh uncontrollably in a public place - don't do as I did and read it on a trans-Atlantic flight!
So, regulars will know the plot, the characters and even the plot devices, but it's the way he tells it.
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