This has been on my wish list for a while so when I saw it on sale at a charity shop recently I snapped it up. I loved this book. It is based on a reality TV show along the Big Brother lines called House Arrest. Ten contestants go into the house, three weeks in someone is murdered and even though the cameras are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in every part of the house, they cannot find the killer. And Ben Elton really does keep you guessing right to the end.

It is very clever, witty, sarcastic and even though all the characters tend towards stereotypes, that is half the fun and works perfectly - there's not a real person among them, a perfect telly-land creation!

I've not read many of Ben Elton's books, but I was and still am a huge fan of his stand-up comedy. I read his first novel, Stark and was disappointed, Blast from the Past was a little better, but I loved this one and it has encouraged me to try a few more.]

8th January 2005
On its way to Fantasma as part of the bookrelay

Got it in the mail yesterday.
Thanks so much, Starry-Starry!!


"Ben Elton's Dead Famous brings together his talents in comedy and crime writing to produce a hilarious and devastating novel on the gruesome world of reality TV. Peeping Tom productions invent the perfect TV programme: House Arrest. Its slogan is: "One house. Ten contestants. Thirty cameras. Forty microphones. One survivor." This is all a clever parody of the massive TV hit Big Brother, with its vain, ambitious contestants with their:
tattoos and their nipple rings, their mutual interest in star signs, their endless hugging and touching, and above all their complete lack of genuine intellectual curiosity about one single thing on this planet that was not directly connected with themselves.
However, Elton adds a clever twist to this very funny send-up. On Day 27 of the programme, one of the housemates is killed live on TV. Everyone in the country has a theory about the killer, "indeed the only person who seemed to have absolutely no idea whatsoever of the killer's identity was Inspector Stanley Spencer Coleridge, the police officer in charge of the investigation". Coleridge is an old fogey from the 1950s, who has to learn quickly about lesbians, piercings, blow jobs and the seductions of TV fame before he can crack the case. Elton's wicked parody of the housemates is brilliant, the murder fiendish in its ingenuity, and the ending wonderfully over the top. Dead Famous is great fun, and even has some social comment thrown in for good measure."
(amazon.co.uk)

It really is a great book!
It's the 1st Ben Elton book I've read and it was one of the best ones I've read this year. It keeps us guessing about the "who-dunnit" and it's so sarcastic and cold about the reality shows. Are they really so staged??

I'm thinking of starting a ring or ray, it's worth it!!
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read such an amazing book, Starry-Starry!

Bookring starting!

You know the rules...
*****PLEASE don't keep the book for more than ONE month with you. If you don't have time, ask to be skipped and receive the book later, if you wish*****

In order:
1. shroomi **DONE**
2. bookmanu **DONE**
3. virgulina **DONE**
4. preciousarwen **DONE**
5. elsita **DONE**
6. xanocas **DONE**
7. gordiana **DONE**
8. guigas **não respondeu**
9. xana **DONE**
10. micazy **DONE**
11. satyanarayani

Back to me!!! (how long will it take??? :o)

RELEASE NOTES:

Here it goes on its way to the first lucky participant of the bookring! :)

I hope you all enjoy it.

Here it is! :)
I'm very curious about this book... I think I'm going to start reading it RIGHT NOW!

Thank you thank you thank you Fastasminha!!

well... it was quite a busy week but i managed to have the time to read it! as i expected, i liked it very much.

'at the end of the day' Big Brother is always watching you...

thank's for sharing, Fantasma!

(waiting for bookmanu's address...)

It was waiting for me in the postbox today when I got home from work. Thanks!

Will journal again soon...

I finished it this morning, after staying up late.

It was like totally wicked, big up to Ben Elton! Respect!

In other words...I enjoyed it very much. I'd say it's like a modern day Agatha Christie. It was my first Ben Elton book, but certainly not my last!

I've PM'd Virgulina for her address...will mailed off on Tuesday or Wednesday

It arrived today! This book was recommended by Fantasma so it's surely a fantastic read, she has yet to recommend something I don't like. I'll try not to delay the BookRing too much! :o)

This was also my first Ben Elton and what a pleasant surprise. It was a fantastic mystery!
The author lets you wonder who the murderer is till the very last minute and he only reveals who the victim was till you've read half the book. So you keep guessing wrong till he tells you! ;o)
I laughed out loud with their conversations and rows, the flea powder bath was hilarious. If you've ever watched any of the reality shows you know things happen exactly like that! Now we're left wondering if things are as staged as they were at House Arrest!
Thanks for the BookRing Fantasma, I'll be sure to look for more of Ben Elton's books! :o)

It's with me!
No more than ONE month says Fantasma... We'll see, we'll see... lol
:)PA

Never read a Ben Eton's book and liked a lot.
Wicked, wicked, wicked!!
I guessed who the victim was going to be (pure luck i saw it in the end) but the killer was totaly unexpected.
It goes today to the next reader, the BCer Elsita, whom i will have luch with.

It's with me now!
I hope you don't kill me, Fantasminha, but I have 2 more BR to read before this one (yes, I'm late because of your Koonts!!) eheheheheheh

Whooo! Wicked! Unreal! Whoo! All right!
Loved this one, very sarcastic, with lots of jokes...loved the way Elton put the contestants talking! It really makes you think about the our days society and the truth behind reality shows...

Going to Xanocas, as soon as I get her adress!
Thanks, Fantasma! Very, very whicked, mate!

Arrived today.

Finished it a few minutes ago.

I really enjoyed the book and all the suspense (about the victim, the murderer and about the murder's cirscunstances and motives).

Sent to gordiana (18/10/2005)

Já recebi e estou a ler. Obrigada. (e mais uma vez peço desculpa pela demora)

Não conhecia o autor e gostei. Irónico, crítico. Deixa-nos a pensar sobre o mundo da TV e da importância que algumas pessoas dão ao simples facto de aparecer.

Enviado para a xana na passada sexta-feira.

It seems the last book was lost in the journey between gordiana and me, so I decided to buy a copy and keep it moving.

It was my first Ben Elton and I found it very funny and witty although a bit predictable.
Was I the only one to feel old? I found myself closer to the Inspector than with the people inside the house...

Arrived safe from Brussels!
I'm dying to star reading it :)))

Wicked! Wicked!
Had so much fun reading it. It reminded me a lot the first Portuguese Big Brother (the only one I think I followed, more or less). The greed of fame and popularity, the way they pretend to love each other, the silly talking, ...
The crime itself didn't convince me at all, but I loved the way the book ends. The last chpater is brilliant!

08.05.2006 - Sent by mail to satyanarayani

The book is with me.

Chegou!
Na impossibilidade de o ler e não o querendo reter mais tempo, foi-me confiado pela Satyanarayani para o fazer prosseguir na sua viagem...
Seguirá para a respectiva dona ou para algum dos inscritos que ainda não o tenha lido e que o deseje receber.
Ao vosso dispôr.
:P) PA

3 years later... the book is back home.
Thanks to all for participating and to CenouraDoLado for rescuing it :)