Basically, having loved the first Nursery Crimes story, the second – The Fourth Bear – was pressed on me in short order. I must confess that I didn't protest too much. I even understood the title references first time with this one. I devoured this one equally quickly, mostly because it was, well, equally brilliant.
Everything that made The Big Over Easy so entertaining was still there – the characters, the word play, the daft scenarios, the parodies and references, the plot, et cetera. Oh, and it was still very funny. Genuinely laugh out loud funny too. A different tack in terms of plot but it is still the plot that lifts this above what it could have been in the sense that it was carefully plotted, full of twists and turns and was very clever in spite of being very silly. It wasn't just a collection of gags and set pieces, it was far more than that.
The characters were also still interesting, even if there was perhaps less development of them than in the first. It was nice to see Ashley get some more airtime though and the supporting cast remained as wonderfully eccentric and amusing as before. I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck into Fforde's other books and to seeing him speak next week. Just a shame the third and final Nursery Crimes book isn't due for another year.
Book number: 14
Title: The Fourth Bear
Author: Jasper Fforde
Category: Crime
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