The premise is simple - regular man Gary lives on a Peckham estate and after his friend goes missing and he encounters a girl reading a book called The Satsuma Complex, his life changes into one surrounded by crime.
From this description, I'd have thought the book was yet another example of those crime books that you find amongst the Sainsbury's aisles, and indeed, I may have not bought the book had Mortimer's name not been attached to it. And having read the book, it did feel rather disappointing.
The book is supposed to be a thriller of sorts, yet at the same time it doesn't particularly feel like one. At times it turns into a book about Gary and Emily (the girl he met) and their relationship, before immediately being disrupted with a sense of urgency. And oh look, Gary talks to squirrels on their behalf... At times, I didn't know whether the book was trying to be a satire of crime thrillers, or whether it wanted to actually be a crime thriller. The humour in the book can also be detrimental by killing off any tension, and made the book at times more absurdist than it probably should have been.
The book also weirdly sometimes switches perspective between Gary and Emily, which isn't an inherently bad thing in and of itself, but it doesn't really add much, other than providing some exposition which could have been shown differently, such as through dialogue. I don't think I needed to know what Emily was going through if it was going to be reiterated later on - though I will admit those chapters did make her character more dimensional, even if they weren't explictly needed. Another character, Grace, is also given a backstory, perhaps to give her greater depth, though this occurs later on in the book and isn't ever truly important to the plot - not that that's inherently a bad thing.
Perhaps I'm being too cynical, because the book was quite enjoyable to read. It's the kind of book that is largely inoffensive and though tries to veer into becoming unsettling, usually steers its way back into a cosy thriller where the protagonist describes the idiosyncracies of the world. Mortimer's humour also shines through occasionally, and when it's not juxtaposed with the threat of violence against a character, it's pleasant to read.
However, after finishing the book, I couldn't help but feel regret for not reading the other crime thrillers amonsgt the Sainsbury's aisles, instead choosing this one. Nothing against Bob Mortimer, but I do feel that this book could have been much, much better. Then again, it is his first effort at fiction writing and only his second in book writing in general, and perhaps his style is more suited to the screen than to paper. I wouldn't say no to it, but it wouldn't be my first choice book.
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