Author : Stephen Fry
What is it about : A re-telling of the story The Count Of Monte Cristo. Set in modern day Britain where our blue-eye boy, Ned became the victim of childhood jealousy and subsequently by a fluke of bad luck, a further victim of corrupted government officials. Locked in a lunatic clinic on an island somewhere in Scandinavia, suffering un-bearable pain and torture, he met his saviour in the form of Babe, himself also a victim of the British government and there he plotted his comeback and revenge. By good fortunes, Ned transformed himself into Simon Cotter, a Bill Gates type of figure in the Hi-Tech world and relished in his role as "the avenging angel, the instrument of God".
Some thoughts after having read the book : I felt that the Author stumbled a bit at the start with depicting Ned madly in love with Portia and writing awkward letters to each other, declaring their un-dying love as teenagers would. But after may be ten pages, the Author got into his strides and stormed ahead and then there was no return - a roaring good read indeed which laid ahead. The readers would feel the pain and injustice dished out to Ned who happened to have done nothing wrong except being the secure, happy-go-lucky kinda good-looking guy with wit, brains and cricket batsman skills in ample quantity - nothing but just bad luck and sheer jealousy from the low and nasty people of this world. Look out for the ingenious ways in which Ned exacted his revenge.
Would I recommend this book to you : Definitely a major nod of praise from me for the book's barn-storming style; of course it helped tremendously that I had watched Stephen Fry on TV dramas, comedies, movie (lately in the role as Mycroft Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes series) and even adverts before in the U.K. and could relate to this author telling this story in his unique style of tone and pace. You could practically read this book anywhere, but do try not to finish it in one go !
