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The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. See less
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Gridlock Paperback – 2 Jan. 2006

by Ben Elton (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 371 ratings
on any 4 Qualifying items | Terms
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Gridlock is when a city dies.

Killed in the name of freedom. Killed in the name of oil and steel. Choked on carbon monoxide and strangled with a pair of fluffy dice.

How did it come to this? How did the ultimate freedom machine end up paralysing us all? How did we end up driving to our own funeral, in somebody else's gravy train?

Deborah and Geoffrey know, but they have transport problems of their own, and anyway, whoever it was that murdered the city can just as easily murder them.

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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Black Swan
  4. Publication date
    2 Jan. 2006
  5. Dimensions
    12.8 x 2.7 x 19.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0552773565
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0552773560
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Review

Important, topical and politically resonant ― Guardian

Combines passionate espousal of a cause with the machine-gun narration of a stand-up comic, peppered with good jokes and with the energetically managed, funny and violent action of a manic strip cartoon ― Evening Standard

The book is stuffed with funny lines and the lot is more gripping than any tyre advertisement ― New Scientist

From the Publisher

Too many cars and not enough space equals gridlock.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black Swan (2 Jan. 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0552773565
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0552773560
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.8 x 2.7 x 19.8 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 371 ratings

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Ben Elton

Ben Elton

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
371 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read and appreciate its entertaining satire. Moreover, they consider it thought-provoking. However, the credibility of the book receives negative feedback from some customers.

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12 customers mention ‘Readability’10 positive2 negative

Customers find the book to be a very good read, with one customer describing it as an easy but entertaining read.

"Very good read full l of twists and turns, with agood bit of crack in it." Read more

"...If you're looking for an easy but entertaining read that will also make you think a bit, this is a great choice...." Read more

"Good and thought provoking as well as entertaining" Read more

"...Ben Elton’s offering of humour disguised as reality was highly hilarious in this novel...." Read more

9 customers mention ‘Humor’9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining and satirical, with one mentioning its comic hyperbole style.

"...It's humorous, although not laugh out loud funny...." Read more

"Good and thought provoking as well as entertaining" Read more

"...The style uses comic hyperbole in aid of a serious message, but not much of the book is actually about the ostensible theme, namely gridlock...." Read more

"...Elton’s descriptions, although very funny, are quite scary as you can imagine it all getting this bad...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Thought provoking’4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking.

"Good and thought provoking as well as entertaining" Read more

"...A highly amusing and informative book, but a tad too long in my opinion. It went on a bit...." Read more

"...The underlying arguments it presents are very thought provoking. I highly recommend this novel." Read more

"SAD INDICTMENT OF OUR SELFISH SOCIETY - POIGNANT AND FUNNY (AND QUITE SHOCKING IN PARTS)...." Read more

3 customers mention ‘Credibility’0 positive3 negative

Customers find the book's credibility lacking.

"...No one wants to take public transport because it is unreliable and smelly!..." Read more

"...the supposed Head of an International Car Company was without any credibility and generally the book was a total waste of my time...." Read more

"Not believable, silly, Wackey Races...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • yvonne battensby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Grid lock
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2025
    Verified Purchase
    Very good read full l of twists and turns, with agood bit of crack in it.
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  • BookWorm
    4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining satire
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 June 2024
    Verified Purchase
    'Gridlock' is set in the 1990s and is a book that feels outdated in some ways (lack of technology) and ahead of it's time in others with it's themes of inequality and environmentalism and disabled central characters. Geoffrey Peason is a brilliant physicist and cerebral palsy sufferer. He invents a hydrogen engine that is clean, safe and cheap - much to the horror of a lot of rich and powerful people who make money out of petrol and transport. Soon Geoffrey and his friends are in mortal danger.

    The story is from the perspective of both the heroes and the bad guys. It's humorous, although not laugh out loud funny. It's not as gory and graphic as some of Elton's novels, although he's not afraid to feature murder and mayhem. It's a good story that bowls along at a good pace. Many of the characters are caricatures, but it is a satire so that is acceptable.

    There's a lot of insightful and uncomfortable things here about disability and how disabled people are treated. It's possible things are a bit better these days - but I suspect not as much as they should be. It does make you think about the challenges faced by disabled people to do things abled people take for granted - every aspect of life is made so much harder.

    If you're looking for an easy but entertaining read that will also make you think a bit, this is a great choice. I read it on a journey and found it's easy style and engaging story ideal for reading on public transport.
    One person found this helpful
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  • John-PaulSanders
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2017
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    Good and thought provoking as well as entertaining
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  • DAVID BRYSON
    5.0 out of 5 stars JAMS BOND
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2006
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    This novel is art imitating life to about the extent that a James Bond film does that. It's for Ben Elton's fans, of whom I happen to be one. It picks up the theme of degradation of our environment that he had attacked wholesale in his previous novel Stark, focuses this time on the specific threats from motor transport, and features once again heroic misfits battling with cartoon ogres and monsters in the shape of tycoons of the auto and oil industries. The style uses comic hyperbole in aid of a serious message, but not much of the book is actually about the ostensible theme, namely gridlock. Apart from the `off-planet introduction' there is nothing more about gridlock until right at the end. The rest is all about pollution from auto exhausts, and indeed if the ecologically-positive hydrogen engine in the story had actually gone into production its popularity, far from helping with traffic congestion and encouraging a switch to public transport, might have had exactly the opposite effect so far as I can see.

    Ben Elton is nothing if not inventive, and some of the more ingenious contraptions we find here would have been worthy of Ian Fleming's Q. This is one of his earlier efforts, before he slowed down a little in later novels. He is still taking pops at every incidental target he can think of, still chasing every hare he starts, but never losing his main thread even when he is throwing out more ideas per square minute (as he used to do in his standup comedy routine) than practically any other novelist I can think of. There are various subsidiary themes and sub-plots, but of course this is a novel with a message if ever there was one, clever certainly but roughly as subtle as an Abrams tank in the way the message is put across. Insofar as the theme really is gridlock, Ben Elton used an analogy in one of his comedy acts that has stuck with me since I heard it. To try to cope with gridlock on the roads by building more and more roads, said he, is like solving the problem of an overflowing kitchen bin by buying a second bin. What does this `solution' leave us with? You got it in one - TWO overflowing kitchen bins. He must surely have been relieved, as we all were, when a pleasant young presenter of a TV programme dedicated to cars recently had a miraculous escape from a crash when testing some strange vehicle at something like 250 mph. The whole project involved design ingenuity, great expense and of course an enormous output of pollutant gases. If the fortunate young man had the opportunity in hospital to do some reading and to reflect on what possible purpose his deathmobile can conceivably have been intended for I hope some wellwisher brought him a copy of Gridlock.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Mrs Helen S Leecy
    4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 August 2019
    Verified Purchase
    There certainly is truth in jest! 
    Ben Elton’s offering of humour disguised as reality was highly hilarious in this novel. Gridlock is about the UK literally gridlocking itself with cars on the road. No one wants to take public transport because it is unreliable and smelly! No one wants to walk when they can get to places on their fat butts so much faster! We all have cars, and we are all contributing to the problem. I’ve spent many a Saturday stuck in Swindon not being able to get anywhere and wondering why the rest of the world has decided they need to go to the exact same place as me on the exact same day! We are sheep!
    I found myself being made aware through fiction of all the problems that we just let happen but do nothing about. Elton’s descriptions, although very funny, are quite scary as you can imagine it all getting this bad. I can imagine an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient engine that doesn’t run on petrol to have already been invented. However, I can also believe that the oil companies have put a stop to it being made.
    There were moments of the book where it plodded on a little, and the number of characters could get confusing, they didn’t have different enough names. They all had silly names, and I think that was the problem it made them nondescript. 
    The best part of this entire book was when he was discussing the ‘Here We Go’ song, having never sung it myself but have heard it I’d never paid much attention to the words nor the meaning. When Elton blatantly says what idiots the British are for singing this moronic song I was in stitches. What on earth is it about, it means nothing, and then when he reminded me of ‘Umpa umpa stick it up your jumper’, well I was gone, I couldn’t stop laughing for five minutes, tears were streaming down my face, and even Morgan started to laugh at the infectiousness of it.
    A highly amusing and informative book, but a tad too long in my opinion. It went on a bit. It would have received three stars, but for the hysterics, I was in at a few of the parts, for that it gets four.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Nameless User
    2.0 out of 5 stars The weakest Elton title I've read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I am a big fan of Ben Elton's writing but even I struggled with the heavy-handed 'jokes' and asides that drag the plot down. Unless you are a hardcore fan, give this one a miss.
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  • TinselCat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 April 2025
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    Great book and in good condition.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Matthias Klatt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Er hat schon bessere Buecher geschrieben aber schlecht ist auch anders. :)
    Reviewed in Germany on 3 January 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Irgendwie habe ich von Ben Elton mal ein Buch in die Haende bekommen und seit dem lese ich alle seine Buecher. Und ich bin sehr froh, dass ich Sie hier auch alle finde. Top!
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  • Anna Haning
    4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping but annoying
    Reviewed in Australia on 14 June 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Ben Elton delivered again. I read a few of his works including "Inconceiveable", "Chart throb", "Blind faith", "Blast from the past", "Meltdown", "Popcorn", "Time and time again" and currently am going thru "This other Eden". It's just this one, "Gridlock" kinda put me off Elton. The reason being it was a bit too much - too much of cynical killing, too much unnecessary loss and not to drop any spoiler alerts very disturbing disappointing ending. I got over my feelings eventually and started reading another Elton novel. Can't say anymore without revealing too much so get onto it if you're considering reading it.
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  • Doug
    4.0 out of 5 stars A fun romp
    Reviewed in the United States on 6 September 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a racy and fun romp through one of the great perils of our time... A moralistic fable that will annoy the hell out of anyone with a deeply conservative or climate skeptical outlook, but will put a smile on the face of most liberally minded folk. Do not read this if you want great literature, but for a quick entertaining read I would happily reccomend it.
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  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on 9 September 2016
    Verified Purchase
    very relevant to today's environmental mess
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  • Walter
    2.0 out of 5 stars Readable But Smarmy
    Reviewed in the United States on 27 December 2019
    Verified Purchase
    I picked this up because it was recommended by British friends. However, I quickly tired of the penchant for ridicule and one-up-man-ship displayed here. The book is readable but you have to wash your hands of the slime afterwards.
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