Hades is dead and the Agency needs a replacement, a new apprentice to carry on the good work, and fortunately for our zombie narrator, his number came up in the Unholy Tombola. Over the next seven days he will act as Death's apprentice, helping him to bring about seven deaths.
The Apprentice
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From the Back Cover
'We're offering you an opportunity. We're taking you on as an apprentice, and we're giving you a week to prove yourself. If you succeed you become a fully-qualified Agent with all the benefits that guarantees: immortality, steady employment, freedom from boredom, and so on and so forth.'
'What if I fail?'
'You won't. You can't lose. If things don't work out, we'll just put you back. And you get to choose the manner of your own death.'
Hades is dead and the Agency needs a replacement, a new apprentice to carry on the good work. An emergency meeting is held, a resolution passed - the traditional method for selecting a new recruit will once again be used. When the coloured balls fall in the Unholy Tombola, who will be the lucky one?
72 18 9 11 12 13 49, a Code Four male aged 28 - no name, no family, no friends - is resting not-so-peacefully by the old chestnut tree in a corner of St Giles cemetery when Death, brandishing the Agency's standard contract, raps a bony knuckle on his coffin. The deal is this: over the next seven days he will act as Death's apprentice, helping him to bring about seven different deaths. If he copes with this task, the job will be his; if not, he can choose the manner of his own death. It couldn't be simpler.
In the Agency's suburban office, the apprentice meets War, Famine and Pestilence, all of whom now drive cars and use modern technology. But Death is bored - things aren't what they used to be - and over the week the newcomer witnesses some imaginative, not to say convoluted deaths. At the same time, the circumstances that led to his own death gradually filter back into his brain. And as he tingles with the memories and sensations of what it was like to be human, he stumbles over a contrivance that could change his future as well as his past. But in the face of eternity, is a week long enough for a nameless dead guy to beat the apocalypse's four world-weary car-drivers at their own game?
A gothic meditation on human frailty, death and the after-life, The Apprentice is a black comedy with a surreal edge that gives new meaning to a near death experience.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I can't understand why this isn't more popular. I started it at 7 one night and couldn't put it down until I'd finished. It's destined to become a cult classic, which probably means nobody in the mainstream will bother with it...They're missing out on something special.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
From this sombre beginning Gordon Houghton takes us on a trip through life, death by various means, and undeath.
In this very funny book we meet The Four Car Drivers of the Apocalypse who are pretty well fed up (excepting Famine of course) and bored with the whole thing. To make life (and death) more interesting, Pestilence (Pes) embarks on series of experiments which generally fail. Famine, who prefers to be known as Slim, works on emetic foods but nothing comes up.
War and his apprentice, Skirmish, resort to bar-room brawls and causing trouble in children's playgrounds.
Death himself would rather listen to classical music and play Chess with maybe clients - win and they live, lose and they lose everything.
Into this shambolic situation is thrown Death's new apprentice. A more inept, improbable and unwilling apprentice it is hard to imagine. Houghton leads us on a merry dance through an Oxford not known by the living and not cared about by the dead.
This is a book full of dark humour and darker deeds. So sharply observed one assumes it was written with a scythe rather than a pen.
With tongue firmly in cheek (or jawbone) Houghton brilliantly succeeds in bringing life to death and death to life.
By Jaki Ridley
Format:Paperback
Recommended by a friend who likes "off the wall" books. Loved it from the moment I started it. Funny, clever and quirky...
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well thought out
I love this book - a witty idea brilliantly crafted. My personal favourite was death by chocolate and I have never been able to eat a packet of Revels in the same way since... Read more
Published on 30 Sep 2010 by Kye van de Silva
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wistful Surreal Slapstick
SET IN OXFORD, this first-person account of a week in the (after)life of a zombie is by turns slapstick, surreal, and wistful. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2001 by A. Ross
5.0 out of 5 stars
compelling reading, a new experience
This book enthralled from the first. The switches between past and present were executed perfectly. The character profiles were strong and you even become to believe Death is a... Read more
Published on 26 Nov 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, clever, moving
What I like about this book is that it works on so many different levels. It's a witty, satirical view of the problems of the undead, Death and the four horsemen/car-drivers of... Read more
Published on 25 Sep 1999
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent premise wasted. Merely average.
There's nothing particularly bad about this book exactly - indeed the writing is often crisp and powerful. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 1999
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, beautiful, moving -- a must-read
I choose this book because of the cover, without knowing anything about it or its author -- what a brilliant surprise! Read more
Published on 28 Aug 1999
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