The Big Over Easy

I'm a big fan of Jasper Fforde's books, I read the second in the Nursery Crimes series - The Fourth Bear last year, and loved it so much that shortly afterwards I swiftly read The big over easy. At the time I found the novel hugely enjoyable, but having re-read it I don't think it works quite as well as I remembered it. One problem of course is that the element of surprise is now missing, you know the basic premise of the plot, the kind of jokes that are going to be made etc., and as such it loses some of that initial freshness which made it such a delight on first discovering it. Having said which it is still very funny, the central crime is cleverly plotted, and, in the sort of novel it is, Fforde can get away with an over-elaborate plot easily.

It's a good read, and I would still recommend it, but the second novel of the series is much better. One good thing about re-reading it though is that I did pick up a lot of references to the Tuesday Next series that I had missed the first time round, so a definite one for Tuesday fans as well.