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Ben Elton Collection
Ben Elton Collection
Oct 7, 2024 7:27 AM

Author:Ben Elton

Ben Elton Collection

Gridlock

Too many cars and not enough space equals gridlock.

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.

Chart Throb

Chart Throb The ultimate pop quest.

Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three judges. Just one winner.

And that's Calvin Simms, the genius behind the show.

Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Calvin and his fellow judges (the nation's favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex - factors themselves.

Chart Throb. One winner. A whole bunch of losers

Blind Faith

Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion.

Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed.

Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought subversive, and ignorance is wisdom.

A chilling vision of what's to come?Or something rather closer to home?

Reviews

Tautly structured and highly entertaining, Rosenheim's intelligent thriller poses questions about the nature of friendship and the quality of trust

—— Daily Mail

Rosenheim paints a picture of a city that, despite its share of high-profile denizens, is still a place divided. This intelligent and well-crafted potboiler sheds light on a subject that goes beyond black and white

—— Independent

An explosive story... The showdowns and set pieces - his boardroom battles, his torrid fling, his marital spats - are enjoyable and well-handled... Andrew Rosenheim has the literary skill and his plotting is good

—— TLS

I read every Sherlock Holmes story...they have certainly found a permanent place in English literature

—— Winston Churchill

The world's most famous detective

—— Ruth Rendell

The brilliance of the stories lies in the relationship between Holmes and Watson, which is both funny and touching

—— Jonathan Coe

Now, as in his lifetime, cab drivers, statesmen, academics, and raggedy-arsed children sit spellbound at his feet... No wonder, then, if the pairing of Holmes and Watson has triggered more imitators than any other duo in literature

—— John Le Carre

[Wexford] has become an old friend who gets better with age.

—— The Herald

Psychologically acute and extremely disturbing, Ruth Rendell's work is outstanding.

—— The Times

It's not often you pick up a book where the plot is technically perfect, where the characters all come off the page perfectly formed and the writing is so good that it's impossible to spot an unnecessary word, but which still managed to be a damn good story. I was still reading at 2 o'clock this morning...

—— TheBookbag.co.uk

Patterson knows where our deepest fears are Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there's no stopping his imagination.buried... there's no stopping his imagination.

—— NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Patterson is in a class by himself.

—— VANITY FAIR

Sharp, sassy and guaranteed to send shivers down your spine, this is a tense thriller

—— WOMAN

Cross is one of the best and most likeable characters in the modern thriller.

—— SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
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