Ben Elton - Blind Faith

Ben Elton is one of Britain's most provocative and entertainingwriters. From celebrity to climate change, from theFirst World War to the end of the world, his books give hisunique perspective on some of the most controversialtopics of our time.

He has written twelve major bestsellers, including Stark,Popcorn (winner of the Crime Writers' Association GoldDagger Award), Inconceivable (filmed as Maybe Baby, whichhe also directed), Dead Famous, High Society (winner of theWHSmith People's Choice Award) and The First Casualty.

He has also written some of television's most popular andincisive comedy, including The Young Ones, Blackadder andThe Man from Auntie. His stage work includes three WestEnd plays and the hit musicals The Beautiful Game and WeWill Rock You.

He is married with three children.

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Critical acclaim for Ben Elton:

Chart Throb

'A brilliantly savage, laugh-out-loud page turner' OK! Magazine

The First Casualty

'Riveting action scenes bristle with a queasy
energy... unputdownable' Sunday Telegraph

'A work of formidable imaginative scope... the writing is so
good, the language so surprisingly subtle and the characters so
beautifully delineated' Daily Telegraph

Past Mortem

'Engaging and smartly plotted' Observer

'Past Mortem confirms Elton as craftsmanlike,
thoughtful and readable' Daily Mail

'He has not lost his canny eye for the preoccupations of his
peers... its warm-hearted characterisation and deft pacing
should make the paperback popular on next summer's
beaches' Sunday Times

High Society

'As I raced to the end, I found myself applauding Elton. This is
a tough subject tackled with courage and commitment'
Will Hutton, The Observer Review

'A fix of high comedy from a writer who provokes almost as
much as he entertains' Daily Mail

'Tremendous narrative momentum... genuinely
moving' The Times

'A return to Elton's top fiery form' Glamour magazine

'Very racy, a compulsive read' Mirror

Dead Famous

'One of Ben Elton's many triumphs with Dead Famous is
that he is superbly persuasive about the stage of the story:
the characterisation is a joy, the jokes are great, the
structuring is very clever and the thriller parts are ingenious
and full of suspense. And not only that the satire (of
Big Brother, of the television industry, of the arrogant
ignorance and rabid inarticulacy of yoof culture) is
scathing, intelligent and cherishable.

As House Arrest's twerpy contestants would put it,
wicked. Double wicked. Big up to Ben Elton and respect,
big time. Top, top book' Mail on Sunday

'Brilliant... Ben has captured the verbal paucity of this world
perfectly... devastatingly accurate in its portrayal... read
Elton's book' Janet Street-Porter, Independent on Sunday

'Elton has produced a book with pace and wit, real tension,
a dark background theme, and a big on-screen climax'
Independent

'One of the best whodunnits I have ever read... This is a
cracking read a funny, gripping, hugely entertaining thriller, but
also a persuasive, dyspeptic account of the way we live now,
with our insane, inane cult of the celebrity' Sunday Telegraph

Inconceivable

'Extremely funny, clever, well-written, sharp and
unexpectedly moving... This brilliant, chaotic satire merits
rereading several times' Mail on Sunday

'Extremely funny without ever being tasteless or cruel... this
is Elton at his best mature, humane, and still a laugh a
minute. At least' Daily Telegraph

'A very funny book about a sensitive subject. The
characters are well-developed, the action is page-turning and
it's beginning to seem as if Ben Elton the writer might be even
funnier than Ben Elton the comic' Daily Mail

'This is Elton doing what he does best, taking comedy
to a place most people wouldn't dream of visiting and asking
some serious questions while he's about it. It's a brave
and personal novel' Mirror

'A tender, beautifully balanced romantic comedy' Spectator

'Moving and thoroughly entertaining' Daily Express

'Anyone who has had trouble starting a family will
recognize the fertility roller-coaster Elton perceptively
and wittily describes' The Age, Melbourne

Blast from the Past

'The action is tight and well-plotted, the dialogue is punchy
and the whole thing runs along so nicely that you never have
to feel you're reading a book at all' Guardian

'A strong beginning, and the reminder that it is fear itself thatmakes you jump wouldn't be out of place in a psychologicalthriller. Blast from the Past is a comedy, but an edgy comedy... a slick moral satire that works as a hairy cliff-hanger'Sunday Times

'Blast from the Past is a wicked, rip-roaring ride which charts thefine lines separating hilarity from horror; the oily gut of fearfrom the delicious shiver of anticipation' West Australian

'Only Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questionsabout gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrativeand jokes that make you laugh out loud' Tony Parsons

Also by Ben Elton

STARK
GRIDLOCK
THIS OTHER EDEN
POPCORN
BLAST FROM THE PAST
INCONCEIVABLE
DEAD FAMOUS
HIGH SOCIETY
PAST MORTEM
THE FIRST CASUALTY
CHART THROB

and published by Black Swan

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ISBN 9781407033839

Version 1.0

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BLIND FAITH
A BLACK SWAN BOOK: 9780552773904

First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Bantam Press
a division of Transworld Publishers
Black Swan edition published 2008

Copyright Ben Elton 2007

Ben Elton has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.

This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

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ISBN: 9781407033839

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For my wife and children