The Killing Joke

By Anthony Horowitz

Book Overview

When Guy Fletcher protests at a feeble joke he overhears in his grotty local pub, he finds himself headbutted and struck by an idea in quick succession. Is it possible to trace a joke all the way back... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0752864157
• ISBN13: 9780752864150
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.9" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Finding the Origin of a Joke Can be Deadly Serious!

Although this isn't the greatest novel ever written it is definitely a very unique and enjoyable read. Original ideas for novels are very few and far between these days so accolades have to be given to Anthony Horowitz for an outstanding effort idea wise. The book does drag on a bit in parts though especially encounters with characters you know are never going to come up again in the book as Guy chases the origin of the distasteful joke which the author goes on with in lengthy details. Still it is an interesting book and one I think most people would enjoy. The basic plot of the book is Guy Fletcher, an actor who has very limited work and does not look like ever getting the big break goes to a seedy bar to get drunk and forget his troubles. He overhears a distasteful joke about his recently departed famous mother and comes off second best when he confronts the teller. With no hope of getting an acting part until his face heals he sets off to track down the thugs who were telling the joke, not for retribution but to find out who made up the joke as he knows the thugs would not have the intelligence to think it up themselves. His search takes him across England and it is not long before he starts to hit dead ends. As he returns to his life in London stereotypical comedy things start to happen to him such as a fly in his soup, a train station full of nuns, almost getting run over by a steamroller and being stalked by an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman, all to warn him off his pursuit. Soon as dead bodies start turning up he knows he will have to commit 100 percent to finding the source of the joke or he'll end up in jail or dead. Other great thriller adventure books revolving around stand up comedy lines are Dan Barton's masterpieces Killer Material and Heckler.

A riot!

Just like half the fun in a joke is in sharing it with others, I would also recommend and lend this book to my friends. This is probably the funniest thriller I've read. It's craftily written ("We're being attacked by stereotypes!") and doesn't bore one bit. The book starts and ends like a joke, and it follows the path of our protagonist Guy Fletcher who embarks on a mission of searching a sick joke to its origins. In the process, various jokes come to life as they try to make his quest more difficult and he gets chased by an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman, an army of nuns, posses of Jews, blacks and homosexuals, finds a fly in his soup, sees a blind man riding a bicycle etc. Ultimately, the riddle "why did the chicken cross the road" leads him to his final destination. There's a love angle thrown in, but it never becomes overbearing so as to lose the focus of the book. A great read!