By Megan Thomas
I adored Bob Mortimer’s memoir, And Away, and at large think he’s totally hilarious, so I was very intrigued by his new(ish) novel, The Satsuma Complex. I even broke my general rule of audiobooks to listen to it – the rule is I only listen to non-fiction narrated by the author, for a couple of reasons (I won’t bore you with them). However, I made an exception as I had a long drive ahead and I could only imagine the joy of Mortimer doing all the different voices of his character.
So, to start, that element (of his narration) was as wonderful as you’d expect. Some of the dialogue is so silly, which I back most readers to be able to enjoy regardless by imagining Mortimer saying it. But it all seemed completely normal (in the signature silly way, of course) when Mortimer said it.
As for the plot, well, that’s also quite silly but in a completely loveable way. It started off my holiday very appropriately – relaxed, laughing, enjoying – and I think most people will be able to smile through it. It’s quite pointedly not the type of book, as referenced in the novel, where nothing happens and that’s the point because it’s oh so literary, darling.
Plenty happens, in fact, and it all starts when the main character Gary (who I’d argue is a pretty thinly disguised subconscious of Mortimer), goes for a pint in South London with an old work acquaintance, Brendan. Little does Gary know, but Brendan will be killed that night and he’ll find himself inextricably wound up in the drama. Not that he minds too much, though, because that same night he met the girl of his dreams in the same pub, and he’s a little preoccupied trying to track her down after she mysteriously left without any contact details.
Gary is delightfully terrible at being involved in a criminal investigation, acting in a way of which most readers would have done the opposite, but that’s not going to stop him.
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