The Big Over Easy
Series: A Nursery Crime Novel, Book 1
By: Jasper Fforde / Narrated By: Simon Prebble
Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
Masterful narration of a true gem o’ depravity!!!
I gotta tell ya, The Big Over Easy is m’ very first Jasper Fforde. Yeh yeh yeh, I have The Eyre Affair in m’ Library cuz a friend gave me the paperback but, like, when was the last time I READ something? Jeez. Still, he enjoyed it, and the “Thursday Next” series is much touted by people who adore intelligent literary efforts, so I got it. …and there it has sat.. like, forever…
Still, I didn’t even notice the author when I was enchanted by this little audiobook during a sale at Audible. Picked it up posthaste, saw the second in the series and picked THAT up as well. Cuz I’m kinda an idiot when it comes to snatching up audiobooks in a series, all without knowing how it’s going to go (See: “The Last Policeman” series where I moaned and whined after that first story had me somewhat underwhelmed).
But this, oh my oh my, was enjoyable start to finish, esPECially since veteran actor/narrator Simon Prebble has us enjoying our fumbling Hero from the beginning. In a world where crimes are solved and turned into hair-raising tales of derring-do, with much drama! Drama! DRAMA! a detective’s writing and acting skills take precedence over actual crime solving abilities. Forensics as part of an investigation? >GASP< Where is the fun in THAT?!
-AND- successful prosecutions rely on how much a jury admires (Uhm, FAWNS over) a particular detective’s verve and personality.
Poor Detective Inspector Jack Spratt has none of that going for him; he’s into justice and actual detective work, boots on the ground, what’s right and wrong, all that jolly rot. Also going against him: He works in the Nursery Crimes Department, a much sneered at branch of police work. And every time he’s given a good Detective Sergeant to partner with? Well, they’re outta there as soooon as possible, on to greener pastures, and DEFinitely vying to work with THE savviest and most dramatic Detective in police work, one Detective Chimes. Now THAT guy commands the media, the public, like crazy!
And he screwed over Jack to rise to the top. Ahhh well…
Jack’s newest Detective Sergeant is Mary Mary, and do NOT kid her about her name (Quite Contrary). SHE’S sooo dying to shine quick, shine bright, move ON to maaaybe a spot on the glorious Chimes Team. P’raps she’ll even screw over Jack when they’re faced with the really big case of the murder of Ovoid of Note, Humpty Dumpty. That Humperdinck Dumpty was a serial womanizer who may’ve ticked off one too many a husband has murder as possible; but that Dumpty was also a swiller of vast amounts of alcohol and went through fortunes via shady investments means suicide is also a possibility. Dumpty’s fall from a very high wall has left him in a gazillion (And six!) pieces, so Jack and his team have their hands full.
There are sooo many twists and turns to this book, and they’re all hiLARious in a true Laugh Out Loud way. Nursery rhyme characters make appearances, and it’s all very hardboiled (Oh dude! of COURSE I meant that!!!). By the way? Humpty had so many phobias, say, of being poached for three minutes, of timers, of salmonella; it’s difficult being an egg!
Plus, there are sooo many side stories, like Jack’s family where THE Prometheus becomes the family’s latest renter (He’s seeking asylum in Great Britain cuz Zeus is stillll peeved with him), like Mary Mary duking and dodging and trying to shake a way-too-earnest ex-boyfriend, like Gretel maaaybe finding true love, like an alien working for Jack but having the hots for Mary Mary, like a beanstalk growing in Jack’s mum’s backyard, like foot care getting pLENty of airtime. So so SO many wonderful little concoctions that author Fforde included and twisted this way and that.
ForGET about trying to solve this; this is SURE to tick off enthusiasts of proper Mysteries. Even “Red Herrings” become a legal issue in this Nursery Crime world where it’s aaaallll about selling the Drama; so don’t even think The Big Over Easy will have a meandering course. Nope, it’s chaos and fanciful from the beginning, through the middle, and yikes! does it end with a big ol’ bang.
And good cow! is Simon Prebble magNIFicent, or what?! He makes each fantastical character by turns innocent, conniving, complaining, ominous. His villainess(es) brood and plot; his cuckolded husbands grouse and by turns forgive… or consider vengeance. Chimes is waaaay Over the Top; Mary Mary is beyond smart, except when she’s trying to shake that ex-boyfriend. Butlers are sooo proper; and Foot Magnates are urbane and proud. But Prebble saves his best for Jack’s unfolding character from hesitant bumbler who’s reeling from the acquittal of the Three Pigs for murdering the Big Bad Wolf, and he takes Jack all the way to a man whose mind is clicking off things that don’t make sense… until they DO! Ta-DAH!!! Jack is our EveryMan Hero, and oh what a joy it is when all is said and done! Mr. Prebble, sir? I do thank you even as I applaud my hands raw!
Vastly entertaining, and I’m certainly eyeing The Fourth Bear with impatience -and- with high expectations. Yesss, I exPECt to chuckle, to guffaw, to nod in admiration. Fforde holds nothing back in his writing, and it was all I could do to keep up with the avenues The Big Over Easy went down.
Hearty Bravos all around!!!
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