Reviews

Dead Famous by Ben Elton

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jessby's review against another edition

5.0

My first Ben Elton book and I found it extremely clever and very enjoyable. 10 contestants enter a Big Brother style reality TV show and 1 gets murdered about half way though. Sounds like a ridiculous premise given the level of scrutiny the contestants are under at all times but it was fascinating. The rest of the book is the murder investigation. Of most enjoyment for me was the satirisation of all the characters and the general public.

simonrtaylor's review against another edition

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4.0

Ben Elton turns his dark wit to Big Brother and its spawn with his dramedy Dead Famous. The premise is as you would expect – a handful of strangers being filmed in a house 24/7 with evictions occurring on a weekly basis. The twist: somebody inside this CCTV-rigged house manages to get themselves murdered.

The novel is structured in such a way that it takes advantage of the omnipotent time stamps which pervade the genre – there are no chapters, only days and times respective to how long the competition has been running. We begin on Day 29 with the police investigating their murder, and as they watch back the tapes of House Arrest, we go back with them to experience Day 1. Both streams progress until the murder occurs and brings them into sync.

The structure is excellent and allows us to form the same opinion of the characters as the lead detective, Coleridge. At the same time, we get to know the contestants very well ahead of the killing halfway through.

Each contestant is very different, and each sends up a typical Big Brother stereotype. David, Dervla, Moon and Jazz are among the most instantly likeable, while Hamish, Gazza, Woggle and Sally take a bit of time to come into their own. Only Layla and Kelly can merge a bit until their storylines develop, and even then they both have greater plot than character significance.

Elton successfully implies sufficient motive for most of the cast to have been the killer (and, at points, all). Some motives are stronger than others, but there is no obvious candidate which keeps the reader guessing.

Of the production staff, series producer Geraldine Hegnessy is an utterly fabulous pantomime villain. Caricatured within an inch of her life as a vulgar, bullish and shameless executive who happily bullies her staff and exploits viewer and contestant alike, she brings fun and devilish delight to the story.

Her colleagues are also memorably quirky, what with Bob Fogarty’s predilection for chocolate bars, Pru’s stifled ambitioned and… Carlisle. Perhaps the less said about Carlisle the better.

Veteran detective Coleridge is an inspired character. Whether he was intended to be an audience surrogate I’m not sure, though his utter bafflement at how society has come to be what it has very well represented my own thoughts as the story progressed, even if he is frequently criticised for living in the wrong century. He is a decent, witty and thoroughly likeable chap. Hooper and Trish make up his team perfectly, with Hooper being everything Coleridge isn’t (of which they are both very glad) and overall the police unit is superbly cast.

Although I was able to solve the mystery ahead of its reveal, the solution is very clever and, most importantly, satisfying within the narrative. Elton times the ending perfectly, drawing the curtain with an appropriately concise finale where it could have been too easy to dwell of the aftermath.

While Elton scathing take on the Big Brother culture is very intelligently put across, as much through implication and subtext as in his more obvious statements, he often pushes the limits of taste and leaves an uncomfortable taste in the reader’s mouth. Dark themes and sexually crude outbursts jar with the otherwise humorous tone. They are less prevalent than in Chart Throb, while the strengths are much stronger.

It seems every character, speech and plot development have been painstakingly put together, and the result is a funny, biting and clever satire of the defining TV creation of the Noughties.

natniss's review against another edition

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4.0

The reveal is a bit bonkers but it doesn't really matter because it's so much fun getting to it.

debra_reads_'s review against another edition

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funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Dear Dead Famous,
I have been seeking unique thrillers and you were very unique! I am a huge Big Brother fan (I even watched season 1) so having a murder happen inside a reality TV show like this was so interesting. You were paced a bit strange for me, jumping around in time quite a bit, and being split into the two sections like you were, but the payoff was worth it in the end. I enjoyed your characters, but wanted more of an emotional payoff with them. I didn't really become invested in anyone and kept confusing some of the similar names.

lunarlxtte's review against another edition

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5.0

Overall, I enjoyed reading this, and though the cover threw me off reading it for a while, I'm glad that I finally did.

I don't doubt that it's very hard to have over 10 individual, unique characters, but Ben Elton managed to pull it off! Each character had their own story, and were all developed well.

The plot itself had me thinking, which is always a good thing. I really appreciate the small details which connect to each other and the main plot without you intially realising; I loved the fact that when one thing was revealed, I could recall where that was mentioned before, and the connection between the points, which made me feel as part of investigation as the characters, which is one of the best features of good writing.

At the end though, I felt slightly let down, although I'm not entirely sure why, because it was quite unpredictable, but perhaps it was its unpredictability that made it predictable. Honestly I'm not sure, something just felt off. All the same though, it was a good ending, and wrapped the book up nicely.

To anyone who is considering reading this, if you like murder mystery, I would highly recommend, although be wary that the language is very mature all throughout!