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The Killing Joke (Hardcover)

by Anthony Horowitz (Author) "His name was Guy Fletcher ..." (more)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Orion (12 Aug 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 075285724X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752857244
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 562,450 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

AMAZON.CO.UK
Anthony Horowitz is a very busy man. The Killing Joke, a grimly hilarious black comic novel, may be his first book for adults, but his Alex Rider series (in which a junior James Bond repeatedly saves the world) is a publishing phenomenon, selling millions to young readers – and shortly to be rendered into a film series. Horowitz has written a film for Christina Ricci, and has scripted such TV series as Foyle’s War and The Midsomer Murders. All of this varied experience has fed into The Killing Joke, and produced a novel that will have you laughing quite as often as it raises your pulse (and that's on Horowitz’s agenda, too).

Guy Henderson is a struggling actor recently dumped by his girlfriend. Getting drunk in a downmarket North London pub, he overhears builders telling a sick joke about a recently deceased actress – who just happens to be Guy’s long-lost mother. He objects, and is viciously headbutted for his pains. But does he seek revenge? No – the incident sends him on torturous quest for the source of jokes such as the one that offended him – and he encounters both shadowy, sinister figures and bizarre characters who appear to have stepped right out of jokes -- and don’t have his welfare at heart.The one-liners here are, to quote the title, killingly funny, and the hapless Guy is a wonderfully shambolic hero; If the final revelation doesn’t quite match the brilliantly sustained build up, few will complain. It looks like Horowitz has another career – first-rate comic novelist – to add to his bulging CV. --Barry Forshaw

Ben Silverstone, JEWISH TELEGRAPH
'An entertaining read, cleverly plotted and joke-filled, if not killingly funny'

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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His name was Guy Fletcher. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Horowitz invades the adult market!, 26 Aug 2004
By Kate Saunders "saunders350" (Windsor) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a gripping book. What Horowitz does really well is that he not only keeps the tension, drama and humour that made Horowitz's children's books so popular, but uses the adult genre to make this book much deeper than his others.

The book is about a man named Guy Fletcher who, on hearing a rather horrible joke about a famous actress who died in a car crash, tries to find out where this joke and others like it come from. It isn't long however until Guy gets into serious trouble.

Some of the twists in the plot are extremely clever and Horowitz also makes even the more unlikely events in the story seem strangely plausible (as he always effortlessly seems to do).

This book is one of the reasons that reading is so enjoyable. It may look like a fairly long book, but it is so intense that you'll read it in a flash (I finished it in 3 days).

You might be wondering, why I've given the book 4 stars if it's so good. Well, the ending may be a bit dissatisfying, clever though it is and the book could be about 500 pages longer at the rate at which everyone who picks this book up will storm through it.

I would recommend this book to anyone apart from those who can't stand action of any kind in a novel, whether they barely read at all (this will be the one book you finish) or whether your an experienced reader who just likes a gripping book. However, I wouldn't recommend this book to those who are too young i.e younger than 14, due to the adult content in the book (some sex and bad language).

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, 29 Jul 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: The Killing Joke (Paperback)
The Killing Joke is the first book I've read by Anthony Horowitz but it will undoubtedly not be the last.
My first impression was that it would be a comical read. It turned out to be much more. There were many parts which made me chuckle but within it lied something much more sinister. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and literally could not put it down. It is well plotted and unpredictable. I recommend it to anyone and it is already being passed around my friends.
Courtney, 14
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars No killer punch, 6 Sep 2008
By Patrick Neylan "Patrick Neylan" (Orpington, Kent, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
This review is from: The Killing Joke (Paperback)
You don't need to read the bio to realise that Horowitz is trying his hand at a new genre. In fact, I'm pretty sure that The Killing Joke was originally pitched as one of those two-part, Sunday night comic dramas that amuse without taxing the imagination.

As a novel requiring you to invest more than two hours of your life, it doesn't cut it. Horowitz can write moderately well, but the characters are all predictable stereotypes. The neurotic actor, the brutish builders, the exasperated ex-girlfriend and her shallow-but-successful new boyfriend, etc. It's ironic that the hero finds himself pursued by stereotypes, but if the writer saw the irony then he failed to make anything of it.

The plot lurches awkwardly from event to event, and eventually from realism to surrealism, with very little rationale or cohesion. The surreal element is unexplained, but not really developed. Horowitz wants a surreal novel, but doesn't have the discipline to go beyond the unreal, which isn't the same thing.

It's hard to imagine that Horowitz wrote more than one draft, and the ending proves that he eventually got bored with the book. An unpublished author would have had the manuscript thrown back at him. It's amusing enough in places - hence the 3-star rating - but overall it's half-baked.

There are too many loose ends, despite the fact that Horowitz tries to tie a lot of them up on a rushed last page - one that reads like he scribbled it on the back of an envelope while the courier was standing in his doorway waiting to take the manuscript to a publisher who had run out of patience.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a joke
I've always associated Anthony Horowitz with rather serious subjects such as Foyles War on TV. However, this book breaks into completely new ground. Read more
Published 16 months ago by P. N. Green

4.0 out of 5 stars Original and entertaining... but slightly disappointing!
I got this book for Christmas and had specifically asked for it as I've love Horowitz's previous books. However, I'm feeling mild disappointment. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2006

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly enjoyable and imaginative read!
Well written and a real page turner. I bought this book on impulse as I liked the unique concept behind the story, about following a joke back to it's source. Read more
Published on 28 April 2005 by hodgkinson_k

5.0 out of 5 stars about the end...
As a Horowitz-fan, I adored reading this book, I recommend it to anyone with a sense of humour, and to all without a sense of humour. Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2005 by numendil

5.0 out of 5 stars This Yank walks into a bookstore...
As an American grade school teacher and rabid Alex Rider fan, I have seen how immensely popular Mr. Horowitz is with children in America--and rightly so. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2004 by Jim Bentley

2.0 out of 5 stars Unsatisfying adult fictional debut
Horowitz is good writer and I've enjoyed reading his children's fiction with my son and his TV scripts such as Foyle's War.
The Killing Joke starts well. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2004 by D. E. Young

1.0 out of 5 stars Not a children's book!
Despite being listed in the children's section this is not a children's book. Do not make the same mistake as me and think that it is!
Published on 28 Sep 2004

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