Absolutely fantastic novel. I liked the first one but Osman has vastly improved as a writer and this one is way better. I would short list it for a Booker (not that they ever will). Superb.My favourite character is Joyce obviously but all are so well drawn. This is a stunning book; like Agatha Christie great writing; like Dan Brown highly populist (though Brown is a poor writer - only excellent at cliff hanging chapter endings).

Oh I thought this was about the poor chap dead in Ukraine and somewhere else a while back, yet currently alive and well for all to see.

Perhaps because I love literature so much, I work the reverse to most and am less likely to buy a book of any kind by a celebrity. I assume a significant degree of inflation of their talents! And all too often am correct. But time to give this guy a go, I think.

You'll be pleasantly surprised WYOT. I've always felt the really great achieve popularity AND quality (like Shakespeare and Dickens). One exception for that was Van Gogh (in his lifetime).

Wyot wrote:
less likely to buy a book of any kind by a celebrity


From his Cambridge days, Richard Osman was primarily a writer, novelist and TV producer.