Rating: 
Summary: couldn't put it down
Review: I started to read this book at the bookstore...I couldn't leave without buying it. I read throughout the night until I was done reading. I just couldn't put it down. This is a book where you care about the main characters, and they're past. It's one night out of their lives...one night and yet... This is the first book that insighted me to ever post my comments here.
Rating: 
Summary: Proceed with caution
Review: I wanted to love this book; I truly did. I fell in love with Elton's humor and political satire when I read Stark years ago. This book doesn't measure up. The pacing was great, and I confess there were times I had trouble putting the book down. I did find parts quite amusing, and, as a political junkie, I enjoyed the debate. The problem I had was two-fold. First, I didn't think the story had enough depth. I found it frustrating that on one hand Elton seemed to be trying to tell a serious story about these two people who loved each other, but couldn't find a way to bridge the gap between their two vastly different worlds, and on the other hand, he was just doing a broad satire of left wing vs right wing politics, with a stereotypical stalker thrown in for good measure. He didn't give the characters enough depth to make me fully care about the love story, so why did he bother with all those flashbacks? Yet, in giving me the background, he seemed to almost want me to care about the characters - he just didn't give me enough to allow me to buy in. Also, I saw the ending coming a mile away. Elton is capable of better than that. In general, I don't think there was enough to the story to make a full length book - this would've worked alot better as a short story. I know it sounds like I'm being harsh, and I probably am. I did enjoy the book, it just wasn't memorable, and it wasn't up to the standards I've come to have for a novelist the calibre of Ben Elton. Anybody who isn't already a fan may well read this book and wonder what the fuss is all about.
Rating: 
Summary: Not great
Review: I was disappointed with this book, as it felt that I was reading a 17 year old's school project. Maybe one could argue that the opinions put forward were naive intentionally so as to give the impression that the characters were illinformed. I do not however feel that this is the case. I think that this is purely another blatant example of Mr. Elton standing upon his soapbox and smugly preaching his political beliefs to us. Save it for an editorial. I did give the book two stars as it was short. This was the biggest favour that Ben Elton could have possibly bestowed upon us.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Elton at his best
Review: The only other Ben Elton book I've read was 'Dead Famous' which I loved and wholeheartedly recommend. I was inspired to read this one on the strength of that, but sadly I was not as impressed.
The book is not a bad read - parts of it are gripping, there are some interesting details and descriptions, the plot is unusual and the timescale well-balanced. However, the word that came to mind when reading it was 'lumpy'. The gender issues seemed to be shoved into the mouths of the characters in order to Put A Point Across, and this meant their dialogue sometimes seemed unconvincing. Also, the final twist was not something I expected - good - but that's because it just seemed totally unreal and out of character for the protagonist in question.
Overall, I'd recommend borrowing this book from your library if you're an Elton fan, or you're interested in gender politics or the army, but I wouldn't recommend buying it. Not bad, but it needed some fine-tuning.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Elton at his best
Review: The only other Ben Elton book I've read was 'Dead Famous' which I loved and wholeheartedly recommend. I was inspired to read this one on the strength of that, but sadly I was not as impressed.
The book is not a bad read - parts of it are gripping, there are some interesting details and descriptions, the plot is unusual and the timescale well-balanced. However, the word that came to mind when reading it was 'lumpy'. The gender issues seemed to be shoved into the mouths of the characters in order to Put A Point Across, and this meant their dialogue sometimes seemed unconvincing. Also, the final twist was not something I expected - good - but that's because it just seemed totally unreal and out of character for the protagonist in question.
Overall, I'd recommend borrowing this book from your library if you're an Elton fan, or you're interested in gender politics or the army, but I wouldn't recommend buying it. Not bad, but it needed some fine-tuning.
Rating: 
Summary: Vibrant and constant excitment
Review: This book I read in 4 hours. I never read a book as fast as this one before. The book had many twists, and turns, alot of vibrant awakening words. I was not able to put this book down and the two times I did I lost my place, it was such an entreging book I didnt mind reading an extra chapter before realizing I was on the wrong page. The book talked about an officer in the ARMY having an affair with a 17 year old when he is 30 years old. then 15 years later he visits her. they never talk between those 15 years also. well the story goes on and on, and if I tell anymore it would ruin the book. READ IT for it is an EXCELLENT book.
Rating: 
Summary: Was Ben Elton ever really that funny?
Review: This book is terrible. Obviously the story is just a flimsy excuse for Ben Elton to wax lyrical about all sorts of tired political themes. I read it primarily because I was aware that sometime in the (distant) past, Ben Elton was actually a funny man and I wanted a laugh. Unfortunately the story which he chooses to frame his views is just awful, why the pretence of a thriller? It's very inept, sub Sidney Sheldon stuff. None of the characters strike me as remotely believable, they are all just slaves to the plot and the (pointless) diatribes they utter. Absolutely pointless book, money for old rope.
Rating:
Summary: An Unfortunate Disappointment...
Review: This book was recommended by a friend I visited last week in the UK, as much like the main character I was also stationed in the UK in the early 80's, dated a British girl, and oddly enough now work for General Joe Ralston, who is mentioned in the book and is actually currently the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). I was also a big fan of Elton's TV works, The Young Ones, which came out while I was stationed in the UK, and later on the Black Adder series. I was lucky enough to find a copy at the Chunnel duty free shop in Dover on my way back to Belgium, and I spent the last two days reading it. Unfortunately, I must admit I was disappointed. For one, there are some glaring errors that a little research could have corrected. Gen Ralston is not a US Army general but a USAF general, and he did not resign after his consideration for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but actually took his current position as SACEUR. Also, Jack Kent's career in the Army didn't make sense nor was it well explained, but I decided to chalk up all these inaccuracies to Elton's attempt to write a good piece of fiction. Unfortunately (there is that word again), even with this latitude the book fails to deliver. Maybe I was hoping for something more comical or original, but all the characters seemed too stereotypical and predictable. Granted, the book takes a few good twists at the end (I won't spoil it for you), but it takes too long to get to them and by then they are not worth the effort. I found myself bored with the book, the person that recommended it stated it had a lot of Eighties nostalgia in it but I am not sure if he read it or just got that notion secondhand, as there were relatively few references to 80's icons or culture. Maybe my expectations were too high, but honestly I was expecting more from Elton, especially in light of his great TV shows. Overall, pretty disappointing...
Rating:
Summary: Entrapping
Review: This book was the book that started my absolute freakish of books. I bought this book in Berlin, Germany at 8 in the morning, by the time it was 4p.m. I was finished with the book. Excellent and Entissing. If your kind of reading is an action book this is the one, it also incorporates a well planned out realashonship, of twists and turns. Intreged myself by the action then the realashonship, then it all combined. AWESOME CHOICE OF LITERATURE!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and thought-provoking, but also very funny.
Review: This is the best kind of comedy, the kind used in shows such as Blackadder, Red Dwarf and One Foot in the Grave - plenty of humour and hilarity but also a serious underlying theme. 'Blast from the Past' is a masterpiece. The characters are believable and all of them, even the disturbed stalker, are sympathetic. Though there is no shortage of political and social humour (a certain head of state even makes an appearance), the 'Fox and Hound'-type storyline - two characters who live in a society which refuses to allow them to be close because of their backgrounds - means you genuinely care about the two central characters and are kept glued to the book until the very end.
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