Fun stuff. I didn't realise this was the sixth novel of a series, but it really didn't matter - and almost added more depth since the characters had a lot more backstory.
Robert Rankin's writing is really fun too. Lots of quick wit throughout the book, the kind that I wish I could come up with in my daily life!
The story is a kind of comical farce whereby history has somehow shifted and things aren't quite what they're supposed to be.
I'm not quite sure if the story is supposed to have a single protagonist or whether it's more of an ensemble. It certainly mostly follows Jim, John and Soap (great…weird, name!). Then there's multiple side characters that I half suspect might have more story in other Brentwood books.
All the same, it was really fun to read a book that clearly had a wide range of characters with more stories to tell.
9 Highlight(s)
'Oh,' said Soap, 'that can't be right. It says here he's walking along at one hundred and forty miles per hour.' 'Pretty spry for an over-weight fellow, don't you think?'
Now, there is, apparently, something of a knack to gene-splicing. It calls for some pretty high-tech state-of-the-art equipment, which is only to be found in government research establishments. Norman did not have access to these, so instead he gave the test tube a really good shake.
'Big-hair alert.' 'What?' 'Men with big hair. It must be the band.'
'The answer to all our problems can be found in two words,' he said. There was a moment of hushed expectation. 'Time travel,' said Tripper.
'And what if it has? What if there are disastrous consequences?' 'Then that same person returns to the past and undoes what he has done. Arrives back a minute earlier than the time before, waits for his original self to arrive and then tells him not to do the thing he was originally going to do.'
He stood on the doorstep and dithered, damned by doubt and direly desirous of deep deliberation.
Men think with their penises, you know.' 'I've heard that said,' said Jim. 'But only by women, if I recall.' 'Women are the more intelligent sex.' 'I've heard them say that too.'
'Would you take a bribe?' Soap asked. 'Certainly not,' said Hovis. 'Well, could you pass my case on to an officer who would take a bribe?'
The evening passed as such evenings do, with great conversation and mighty consumption of liquor. The noise of laughter rose to unthinkable heights, as the quality of humour sank to unthinkable depths.