The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth (Paperback)

1) I do not believe that the same joke is being stretched at all. Clearly the first novel had the most out and out laughs, as the comedy of setting noir style writing in Aberystwyth was being established, and so the comedic potential for the town itself was exploited to the full. In the second book (Tango) and now this, that potential has been exploited and the reader is invited to accept it as an alternative reality and see the town as a character in its own right, much the same as LA became a valid character in the Chandler novels.

2) The character development is excellent, with relationships deepening, and histories being revealed. Yes, you should read the books in order to make sense of it all, but that simply suggests a connected series rather than a fundemental flaw. I personally feel that the books have become less out and out funny, but more black in their humour, and more personal in their storytelling.

The two reasons above are for for me strong points, and I enjoy the fact that the author treats his readership as adults who can remember small details from previous books and builds on them. The books are very cohesive and as the laughs become blacker the series becomes more readable for me. It could be compared to something like 'The League Of Gentlemen' where once the settings themselves have been mined for comedy, the characters take over and the viewer becomes more involved.

It has to be said that the plotlines of the books are always entertaining, and in this book, I thought, hightly original. I thought the monkey plotline was genius.

That said, this book is as good as 'Last Tango,' although I do wonder just how far Pryce can stretch his parallel-Aber, and there are times in the narrative where I wondered if he might not have tried to stretch it too far. Plot-wise, there's a few loose ends, and I read the ending twice in a bid to get some satisfaction out of it, which I still haven't found.

That's about as far as I can criticise the book, however. From now on it's praise all the way.

I'm not going to give away the plot, but the usual suspects are back, and Louie Knight gets to wise-crack his way through another surreal crime in Pryce's Aber that strange mix of the real thing and a truely corrupt & Chandleresque noir city, complete with police brutality, the distant world of Shrewsbury gaol and a whelk stall.

This is a novel which is funny, gritty and gripping all at once, and, if you enjoyed the previous two novels, you'll enjoy this one. If you're new to Pryce, but like noir or hard-boiled detective stories in general, then buy this by all means, and I'm pretty certain you'll love it, but you might want the background from Pryce's other books first.

In short? Required reading for old fans, and fan-making reading for newcomers.