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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Something Rotten (Thursday Next, #4) in Books

Nov 26, 2019

Something Rotten (Thursday Next, #4)

Jasper Fforde | 2004 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller

8.5

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

In his previous Thursday Next books Fforde has explored the world inside books and how Thursday - literary detective from an alternate reality from our own - interacts with its denizens. Now he turns that on its head.

Thursday, along with her young child Friday, decides it is time to leave the Bookworld behind and return to the real world, despite the danger this poses from the all powerful Goliath corporation. They have already erased her husband from existence and wanted to do the same to her. But Goliath are now benign and repentant. But that doesn't mean that Thursday can have a happy ending. Not only does she need to get her husband back, but unless Swindon can win the Superhoop croquet world cup there will be an unstoppable chain of events leading to the end of the world.

As usual with Fforde the plot is complex, convoluted and wildly improbable but that doesn't stop him pulling the reader into the slightly off-kilter world of the Nexts. As could be expected the humour is packed in tight. Literary jokes, in world jokes, real world jokes. Playing with language and words in every inventive way possible. All of these are his stock in trade and he uses them to great effect here.

This was for me a little weaker than the first three books, possibly because now back in Thursday's world is a little more mundane than seeing works of literature from the inside but there are still plenty of laughs to be had and the various plot strands will keep you guessing