Ben Elton - Chart Throb

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Epub ISBN: 9781407040943

Version 1.0

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TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS

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CHART THROB

A BLACK SWAN BOOK: 9780552773768

First published in Great Britain

in 2006 by Bantam Press

a division of Transworld Publishers

Black Swan edition published 2007

Copyright Ben Elton 2006

Ben Elton has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

With the exception of HRH the Prince of Wales, who appears as

a fictionalized version of himself, all the characters in this

book are fictitious

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About the Author

Ben Eltons career encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past twenty-five years. His TV writing and performing credits include such multi-award-winning shows as The Young Ones, Blackadder, Saturday Live, The Man from Auntie and The Thin Blue Line. His three hit West End stage plays are Gasping, Silly Cow and Popcorn , which won the Olivier Award for best comedy. He wrote and directed the feature film Maybe Baby , starring Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson, which was based on his novel Inconceivable . He has also written three stage musicals including the global phenomenon We Will Rock You , which he created with Queen and which he also directs worldwide.

He has written ten internationally bestselling novels including Dead Famous, The First Casualty and High Society , which won the WH Smith Peoples Choice Award. He recently returned to stand-up comedy after a gap of almost ten years and his new show, Get a Grip , played to packed houses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

www. books at transworld .co.uk

Critical acclaim for Ben Elton:

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

Fans will love it

Heat

Past Mortem confirms Elton as craftsmanlike, thoughtful and readable. Fans will find plenty to enjoy

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 summers beaches

Sunday Times

You expect a witty, engaging storyline when you pick up an Elton novel and his latest doesnt disappoint

Fresh magazine

In the tradition of Ben Eltons previous novels, Past Mortem is a gripping read

City Weekly

Elton is such a readable author

Sydney Morning Herald

Elton melds his story, part comic romance, part page-turning thriller, with a subtext that explores schoolyard bullying, lightly and broadly, by taking every opportunity to include thought-provoking passages on the issue

Sunday Territorian

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 Eltons top fiery form

Glamour magazine

Very racy, a compulsive read

The Mirror

Full of passion and plenty of one-liners

Scotland On Sunday

A joy to read a startling head of narrative steam

Evening Standard

A throat-grabbing thriller which also manages to savagely satirise this high society we all live in Excellent

Ireland On Sunday

Dead Famous

One of Ben Eltons 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 Arrests 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 Eltons 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

Very acute about television and the Warhol-inspired fame for fames sake that it offers certainly delivers a readable whodunnit

The Spectator

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 its 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 wouldnt dream of visiting and asking some serious questions while hes about it. Its a brave and personal novel

The Mirror

A tender, beautifully balanced romantic comedy

Spectator

Moving and thoroughly entertaining

Daily Express

Somehow Ben Elton has managed to write a funny, positive love story about one of the most painful and damaging experiences a couple can go through

The Weekend Australian

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