The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
by Robert Rankin
Gollancz/Trafalgar Square
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Well, with a title like that you’d be bound to give it a second look, wouldn’t you? And you’d be right to do so.
Nursery rhyme characters, living large off their verse-inspired fame, are being killed off one by one (suffice it to say that Mother Goose is cooked). It’s up to our hero Eddie, a gin-soaked private eye, to sort things out. Only Eddie’s not that particular about the gin – it could be anything that’ll get him drunk. Oh, and he’s a teddy bear who has to drink standing on his head so the alcohol will go to it. Which actually isn’t a bad way to describe the tone this book strikes — just a bit buzzed, and at a different angle than usual.
Eddie’s new partner Jack has no such problems in the getting drunk department, but he does have one or two uncomfortable moments in his past he prefers not to go into. Odd, for such a young lad on his first day in the big city. But then again he’s having a difficult time coping with all of this.
This is a hugely enjoyable fantasy-mystery about what happens when the town without pity is made up of characters from nursery rhymes and toys. Written in a breezy, tongue-in-cheek style that will remind readers of a Monty Python or Douglas Adams fairy tale, causing lots of smiles and “Ooh, I must tell my friends about that bit!” moments.
A light, quick read.
Trafalgar Square Books: http://www.trafalgarsquarebooks.com/
