Past Mortem

by Ben Elton | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0552771236 Global Overview for this book
Registered by mrsbridgewater of Holybourne, Hampshire United Kingdom on 12/14/2004
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12 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by mrsbridgewater from Holybourne, Hampshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, December 14, 2004
"With old friends like these who needs enemies?

It's a question mild-mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself when, in romantic desperation, he logs on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '88 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and ild feuds and passions burn fiecely once more.

Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely byt very attached sergeant, and failing comprehensively to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesom murders. Then a school reunion is planned, and as history begins to repeat itself the past crases headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again.'

Saw this on a fellow book crosser's wish list and thought I would oblige!

Journal Entry 2 by mrsbridgewater at on Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Released on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 at about 4:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at another bookcrosser in a controlled release, n/a Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:


Journal Entry 3 by camis from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Sunday, December 26, 2004
Received from the generous Mrs Bridgewater as my NSSFC gift. Thank you! I am aiming to read this very soon.

Journal Entry 4 by camis from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Mr Elton has surpassed himself with this one! His black humour radiates throughout the book, but this is much more than a comedy. The murders are rather gruesome and the sex scenes rather more graphic than I would have expected, but they are an essential part of the book.

For once, I did guess 'whodunnit' relatively early on, but the revealing of the motive and the method meant I just had to keep reading to find out how it all worked out.

You may wish to remove your details from Friends Reunited after this....

Journal Entry 5 by camis from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Thursday, December 30, 2004
This is now going out on a ring in the UK. Current participants are

Weebly
MrsBridgewater
Aubriel (no response to PM's - moved to end of list)
DrusillaMac
Tehuti
Lucycat
ReetPetite
GlitterLover
Snoozle
Aubriel - if contact can be made!
Kert01
Katie1980
Cass01

then home to me

Journal Entry 6 by camis at on Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Released on Tuesday, January 04, 2005 at about 3:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Fellow BookCrosser in n/a, Sent to another BookCrosser Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to Weebly today.

Journal Entry 7 by wingAnonymousFinderwing on Friday, January 7, 2005
Just arrived - many thanks. I finnished reading my current book about half an hour ago, and this is my only ring/ray here as I have slowed down my signig up - so I can get to it straight away - Hurrah!

CAUGHT IN NORTHAMPTON NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ENGLAND

Journal Entry 8 by weebly from Hartwell, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Friday, January 7, 2005
Woopsie - that last journal was from me! Different computer and forgot to log in.

Journal Entry 9 by weebly from Hartwell, Northamptonshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 12, 2005
I too really enjoyed this book. The funniest bit was where Newson fell asleep on the train in Milton Keynes and woke up 20 minutes later pulling in at Euston!! You have to live near me to see the funny side - the journey takes an hour if you are lucky. Mt Elton obviously never uses the west coast mainline himself! I too found it a little too graffic in parts, sexually and in a macabre way too - and also feel a bit funny about friends reunited too! I The bullying story line though is one that needs thinking about as it is such a problem - and I found most of the book completely believable even though it went to extremes.

My hubby also read the book in a day and said it was the best book he has read for ages. I will get this posted by the weekend.

Journal Entry 10 by mrsbridgewater from Holybourne, Hampshire United Kingdom on Monday, January 17, 2005
Hey! I recognise this book! I did think about reading it before I sent it to Camis, and have to admit to hoping she would send it out on a ring. Have started to read this, I've always been a bit dubious about Friends Reunited - the only person to contact me via that site was an ex boyfriend I'd rather never hear from again - I think this book may just confirm my doubts.

Journal Entry 11 by mrsbridgewater from Holybourne, Hampshire United Kingdom on Thursday, January 20, 2005
This was a lot of fun - although the rather graphic sex scene did make me wince a bit!

Journal Entry 12 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Just got this in the post today. Apparently my local post office has had this for a month without bothering to put a card through the door.

Thanks to MrsBridgewater!

Journal Entry 13 by Drusillamac from Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom on Friday, March 11, 2005
This is a lovely gem of a book. Everyone has associated Friends Reunited with nice memories of school. I bet there's a lot of people out there who would appreciate someone bumping old school bullies.

I did wince at that sex scene. I was reading it on the bus to uni, first thing in the morning. Perhaps not the best time of day. I am also quite chuffed I managed to work out who the murderer was a good 20 pages before the end. This is an achievement for me!

I also recommend Dead Famous which is Elton's spoof of Big Brother. You have to guess who the victim was as well as the murderer.

Off to Tehuti when I get their address.

Journal Entry 14 by tehuti from Swansea, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Ouch! Bookrings are worse than buses, coming not in threes but in fours or more! Will try my hardest not to hold this up too long.

Journal Entry 15 by tehuti from Swansea, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Oh dear! I had to reorganize my desk immmediately on return from holiday due to my desktop PC dying on me. This book got reorganized to the wrong place and I have only just noticed - I do apologise. Will send on as soon as possible.

I can't help wondering if Ben Elton was indulging in a bit of wishful thinking in this story! It was a fun, light read on the way down to Gatwick airport and I was gratified to find I had suspected the perpetrator fairly early on in the story. However, the book does also raise some serious questions about the lasting effects of childhood experiences. I could certainly identify with a number of things that are said.

Journal Entry 16 by tehuti from Swansea, Wales United Kingdom on Friday, June 3, 2005
Work got in the way of more important things like Bookcrossing, but I finally managed to post this to lucycat.

Journal Entry 17 by lucycat from Hull, East Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, July 4, 2005
Thank you so much Krys (and Camis!)

Many apologies for not journalling this when it arrived - I immediately contacted Rita to arrange passing it on at the Unconvention this year, but seem to have then ploughed straight into the book rather than pausing to say it had actually landed! In the month it has been here it hasn't lain idle - I read it, passed it on to my Mum, across to Olliebear (who might chime in with a journal of her own shortly) then it was nabbed by her hubby.

It was fabulous - Ben Elton back on top form after (the slightly disappointing) 'High Society', lots of the expected observational humour & social commentary but also an absolutely cracking murder mystery. I did feel obliged to warn my Mum about *that* sex scene though...she didn't bat an eyelid, but said she perhaps wouldn't order it from the library for (94 year-old) Granny after all...;O)

I passed this along via Elestr's wonderful swap shelf on Saturday at the Uncon - many thanks for organising that, and thanks also to Rita for agreeing not to journal til I got back and could nip in first! :O)

Journal Entry 18 by wingReetPetitewing from Beeston, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Monday, July 4, 2005
Passed on to me at Unconvention 2005. Thanks Lucycat.

Journal Entry 19 by wingReetPetitewing from Beeston, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Saturday, July 23, 2005
I wasn't sure if I liked Newson, sometimes I did & sometimes I thought he was really shallow. Perhaps he was a typical bloke, a TV programme recently said they score low on empathy.
I guessed the murderer because of another crime novel I'd read with a similar idea. It was all right but the murders were gruesome and some of the bullying was too awful.
I've PMed GlitterLover for her address.

Journal Entry 20 by wingReetPetitewing from Beeston, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Monday, August 1, 2005
Posted to GlitterLover today, enjoy!
Thanks to mrsbridgewater & camis for sharing.

Journal Entry 21 by GlitterLover from Leyland, Lancashire United Kingdom on Monday, August 15, 2005
received thanks - on my TBRimminantly pile

Journal Entry 22 by GlitterLover from Leyland, Lancashire United Kingdom on Saturday, November 12, 2005
I did really get into this one. Ben Elton has a broad range within his writing style and this one pushed the boundaries a littel for me and I enjoyed it. Some of the deaths were a tad gruesome but also scarily satisfying.
Thanks for including me on the ring.
Not heard back from snoozle will try once more then forward it.

Journal Entry 23 by Snoozle from Richmond, North Yorkshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Sorry I didn't write an entry when I received this book.

I enjoyed this book, although I was a bit traumatised by a certain sex scene halfway through, probably partly because the description of Edward Newson made him sound like my boss at work, so the images in my head were not good!

I've PMed Aubriel, if I don't hear back soon I'll send it to the next person on the list.

Journal Entry 24 by aubriel from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Arrived safely in the middle of decorating and promptly got put somewhere safe aka didn't know where it had gone! Should get round to this fairly soon as school holidays are looming and I need to maintain my sanity ;-)

Journal Entry 25 by aubriel from Sheffield, South Yorkshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 26, 2006
An enjoyable novel, though I managed to guess whodunnit for a change and suspected the killer from very early on which usually never happens!!

Posted on to Katie1980 this afternoon.

Journal Entry 26 by katie1980 from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Saturday, April 29, 2006
I picked this up from the post office this morning. I'd not realised it was a hardback!
Thanks for sharing - I'll get to it when I can, probaby in a week or so.

Journal Entry 27 by katie1980 from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Sunday, May 21, 2006
Now I know what people mean by "that" sex scene. I did NOT enjoy that! I could sort of see how it fitted into the storyline, etc. but I don't think I'd have missed it if it wasn't there! ;o)

The murders, however, I'm kind of used to because I read a lot of horror! The story overall was strong, and followed through making sense. I did have an inkling about halfway through who the killer was, but because there are different bits that point to various other people, I wasn't convinced! *lol* But I did get the F. R. connection pretty early on! ;o) (But I guess you're supposed to!)

Thanks for sharing this book with me, and I'll pass it on to Cass01 when I can. I need to email for an address, and I'm away in the week at the moment, so I'll have to hope that I get a response this week and I'll post it on next weekend, all being well...

Released 17 yrs ago (5/27/2006 UTC) at mailing to a fellow bookcrosser in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Cass01 on Saturday.

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