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Past Mortem, Ben Elton
Bantam
Reviewed by John Whelan (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

Bestselling novels, classic TV shows, West End musicals – I hate Ben Elton, no one should be this talented and have so much success. It's not fair.

With his latest novel he keeps on doing what he does best, writing contemporary comic novels with an edge.

His main character in Past Mortem is Detective Inspector Edward Newson, who is like no other policeman you've seen before – for a start he's five foot four, has ginger hair and freckles, smiles a lot and is infatuated with his sergeant and fantasises daily about seeing her naked body.

Newson is no ordinary policeman and the crimes he has to solve are complex and dangerous. A series of gruesome murders, which at first glance have no obvious link, have taken place throughout the country.

The clever copper from Scotland Yard soon has a theory and has to find the warped serial killer before they can strike again. The inspector knows that his own past and the murders are somehow connected. It turns into a battle of wits and a race against time to work out how.

This is a fast-paced, top-notch thriller that is funny, disturbing and packs a punch – and it is also very, very clever. Only Ben Elton could get a laugh, as well as a gasp, out of: Grisly murders, bullying, the Internet, eighties pop music, sex and school reunions – this is adult black humour at its blackest and best.

The whole story is tinged with a social commentary that is sad yet frighteningly true. The final scene is a heart-racing, page-turning read – the master at his prodigious best. I hate him.