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Amazon.co.uk Review
Rather in the fashion in which Stephen Sondheim exploded the world of fairytale in Into the Woods, Fforde here brings all the apparatus of the tough crime thriller to bear on the nursery rhyme. Minor baronet Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III has been found dead--and in pieces--beneath a wall in a less salubrious area of town. The perpetrator would appear to be his ex-wife, but she has shot herself. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his colleague Mary Mary are assigned to the case, and soon find themselves knee-deep in money-laundering, bullion smuggling and major problems with beanstalks.
This isn't quite the Fforde mixture as before, although he has previously favoured a crime motor for his plots. The skill in this outrageously entertaining (and rigorously plotted) concoction lies in a double conjuring trick: we are always amazed to find ourselves reading so assiduously about ludicrous figures (who become quite as interesting heroes as, say, Philip Marlowe) when common sense dictates only children should find such conceits entertaining. Not so! No child could appreciate the dazzling wordplay and witty imagination on offer here, and most readers will be more than happy to encounter detective Inspector Jack Spratt (and his contrary sidekick kick Mary Mary) again and again. --Barry Forshaw
Review
'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 )
'Consistently clever'
(Publishers Weekly )'This is the first if best-selling Fforde's hilarious, absurd and utterly compelling new series of nursery crimes for adults.'
(Daily Mirror )'Fforde offers a cascade of puns, plays on words, surrealism, satire and verbal virtuosity...Astonishingly, he stays funny for 400 pages'
(The Times )'Fforde is a master entertainer, and a wordsmith of dexterous genius.'
(The Scotsman )'Jasper Fforde here mixes nursery rhymes with golden age detective fiction to produce something very accomplished indeed.'
(Guardian )
'Fforde’s books are more than an ingenious idea. They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terribly mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do. They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of a Dickens or Pratchett. As Humpty Dumpty’s life-story is revealed, the mystery becomes curiouser and curiouser, and the compulsion to find out what is going on increases. A real treat.'
(Independent )'There is no more familiar genre than the detective story. The problem is that the sleuth story is now so familiar that it’s in serious danger of getting boring. What’s to be done? Jasper Fforde has the answer. Once you open this book, you’ll find it very hard to put down. I’ve never read anything like this. And I couldn’t get enough'
(Daily Ireland )'Fans of the late Douglas Adams or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde'
(Herald )'If you haven’t read Jasper Fforde before, THE BIG OVER EASY, is likely to come as a surprise . . . the combination of fantasy and (more of less) classic murder makes a wild and enjoyable change'
(Sunday Telegraph )'Clever plot lines, wit, and Fforde's unique humorous style ensures the reader is captivated from start to finish. A must for anyone wanting a light-hearted read in a class of its own.'
(Good Book Guide )Browse and search another edition of this book.
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Customer Reviews
Imagine a world where nursey rhyme characters exist and live in Berkshire. A small, very underfunded department of the Berkshire Police exists to investigate crimes in this community, headed by the dishevelled DI Jack Spratt.
Next imagine that Humpty Dumpty had his fall but that it wasn't the suicide that everyone first thought it was.
Every page is absolutely packed with little references to anything from Hans Cristian Anderson to Monty Python. Jasper Fforde somehow manages to squeeze funny into even the most routine of situations. I found it hard to supress chuckling at every sentence. Even the little snippets of "news" at the start of each chapter are a joy.
Even better than this though is the book works as a fantastic murder mystery in its own right - beautifully and intricately plotted from start to end. You really want to know who offed Humpty. A whodunnit to match anything Agatha Christie could come up with (yes, Fforde references Miss Marple and Poirot too, along with Sherlock Holmes, Ian Rankin's Rebus and almost every other famous "dick").
I've never read any Jasper Fforde to date - I picked this up on a station waiting for a train (for once, thank God for BR delays!). I really can't find anything to say wrong about this book, with maybe the exception that it wasn't enough. Bring back Jack!
The only thing i would say is wrong with the book is that it ended. I was so disappointed that i got to the last page, i just wanted it to continue on.
This is the first book by Jasper Fforde that i have read, but because of this i am now reading his others. He makes the characters of nursery rhymns and myths to be believable and 'real'. Well as real as any ficitional character can be.
So if you are looking for a book with humour, then pick this, it had me laughing out loud to myself, which got me a few strange looks for people in my works canteen i can tell you. It also has a crime so please that like a good mystery will enjoy, although it isn't your run-of-the-mill crime story, it has some great plot twists.
I would recommend this book to EVERYONE!!!!!!!
If only more of them had fulfilled their promise as this did. I really wasn't entirely clear on what I was getting, (that happens to me sometimes - I thought 'The Mummy' was a horror film!) but I'm so very glad I got it.
What Adams did for Sci-Fi and Pratchett is doing for Fantasy, so now Fford s doing for the 'tec novel. This amazing imagination give us a story in which Humpty-Dumpty, noted intellectual, womaniser and law-bender,is found dead at the bottom of a wall. It looks like suicide, but is it? Enter Jack Spratt hard-working, family-man detective with the Nursery Crimes Division.
Few things, even those I love actually make me laugh out loud, but this managed it on several occasions. If you like off-the-wall, bizarre or just plain silly, buy this.Then buy the rest of his books.
It's typical Fforde. Read more
Anyway, I randomly picked the book up while waiting for someone, got to half way down the second page and decided that I... Read more
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