Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

Jasper Fforde's first novel was last year's surprise hit. The Eyre Affair was a conglomeration of SF and low comedy, all mixed with a post modern literary conceit that grabbed the imagination and thrust us into Thursday Next's alternate Britain, where literary detectives track down forgeries, and Richard III plays to Rocky Horror audiences, and secret organisations battle crime and cheese smuggling.

But was it just a one shot wonder? Or was there a new Robert Rankin on the streets? The arrival of Lost In A Good Book put paid to the fears - this was no flash in the pan. And, if anything, this second book is better than the first.

Thursday Next is happily married to Landen, but the events of The Eyre Affair are still catching up with her. The Goliath Corporation wants its man back (she's trapped him in "The Raven"), she seems to be on trial (in Kafka's "The Trial", no less) for her new ending to Jane Eyre, and someone is trying to kill her with coincidences. And when Landen is erased from history, she needs to find out just what is happening - especially as it appears to mean the end of the world.

With the same mix of literary jokes and puns as The Eyre Affair this is a quick and easy read - and it's one you're unlikely to want to put down until you get to the very last page (and the advert for the next volume in the series...). Fforde writes with tongue firmly in cheek (with plenty of little jokes for the observant reader), and with a certain flair that is very difficult to describe.

Still, this is one time you can quite literally get Lost In A Good Book...