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Past Mortem

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Past Mortem

By: Ben Elton
Narrated by: Ben Miles
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About this listen

 With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question short, mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself having in romantic desperation logged on to the Friends Reunited Web site searching for the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of '86 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, while comprehensively failing to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again. In Past Mortem, Ben Elton, previous winner of The Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for Popcorn, delivers both a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance.©2004 Ben Elton (P)2004 Random House Audiobooks Mystery Police Procedural Romance Suspense Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Heartfelt

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Critic reviews

"Ben Miles' reading...is flawless." ( The Times [London])
All stars
Most relevant
I was looking for audiobooks narrated by Ben Miles after a Coupling re-watch and found this one. I've enjoyed some Ben Elton books before so figured I'd give it a shot.

To be clear, this is abridged so I can't fairly judge the full book and I'll try to stay spoiler free.

The main character is a bit pathetic, he is a lech and quite meek although he has his moments. His police partner is much of the same. Neither are especially likeable and you don't find yourself routing for them in the book.

The murderer is kind of obvious. I don't think you could get it from the second chapter like another reviewer but it wasn't a surprise at the end. He acted in a very odd way for a successful long-term serial killer though. Killing a person every few months and then a bunch of people relating to an investigating detective within days. Seemed odd.

This book is very dated too. Friend's Reunited plays a big roll, now defunct, CDs get mentioned a lot, laughable computer security, apparently no competition commission for businesses etc. It's not Elton's fault but when people are going "Gosh, a computer, I've never touched one." It does seem weird.

There's also the comically violent bullying (everyone seems to ignore a kid getting stabbed and admitted to hospital for blood poisoning) and the really heavy handed message about it that the book tries to get across. Honestly, by the end of it you lose sympathy for the bullied characters because they whinge so much.

The rest of the book seems to flit between coincidence and lazy writing as the main character is pulled along for the ride. The police side seemed poorly researched too; I can't imagine a young woman being used as serial killer bait with a squad of armed police ready to leap out of a van and her only communication to be to the walky-talky of one cop who is out of sight of all the other police. Just stupid.

I never read abridged normally but I was glad of it in the end because the book ended more quickly. Ben Miles' narration was decent enough.

Abridged and nothing special

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While the majority of the story remains this is a slightly abridged version. Funny but serious while addressing some real life truths on bullying. Dated by the use of friends reunited which now surpassed by other social media that could do the same thing.

One of my favorite books

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Cracking story and great characters. And a trip back to the eighties to... Ben brings the characters alive and keeps the story going at a great pace

Great short listen on a short journey..

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I'm not a huge fan of Ben Elton, but this book looked a bit 'crimey' so I gave it a shot. I wasn't disappointed, Ben Miles' reading is excellent, the writing is pure Ben Elton style and the story line is a 'can't put down' type. Definitely worth the money and you will listen to it in one go!!

Excellent...

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I read this after Identity Crisis and found it less engaging and certainly short on the sharp humour one expects from Ben Elton. I guessed the murderer too early for suspense.

Another detective

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