Dead Famous [Audio CD]

Ben Elton (Author), David Thorpe (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 2004

One house, ten contestants, thirty cameras, and forty microphones. Everybody knows the rules—total strangers are forced to live together while the rest of the country watches them do it. However, on day 27, one of the housemates is killed on live TV. Who is the murderer? How did they manage to kill under the constant gaze of the television cameras? Why did they do it? And who will be next?

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A book with pace and wit, real tension… and a big on–screen climax.” -- Independent

“One of the best whodunits I have ever read… a funny, gripping, hugely entertaining thriller.” -- The Sunday Telegraph

“Wry, fast, and fiendishly clever.” -- The Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

One house, ten contestants, thirty cameras, forty microphones, one murder… and no evidence. A Number–One Bestseller in Britain, Dead Famous is a killer of a read from Ben Elton—Reality TV as you’ ve never seen it before. Ben Elton’s television credits include The Young Ones, Blackadder, and The Thin Blue Line. He is also the author of a string of best–selling novels, including Popcorn, which won the Crime Writers’ Association Golden Dagger Award, Blast from the Past, and Inconceivable. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Isis Audio; Unabridged edition (April 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753122855
• ISBN-13: 978-0753122853
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At the end of the day, fair play to Ben Elton, August 16, 2005

By 

E A Glaser (Delft, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead Famous (Paperback)

"Dead Famous" is both a scathing parody of the "Big Brother"-style reality TV show and a potboiler of a murder mystery. It's also one of the best page-turners I've ever read. You meet the ten "inmates" in the trash-TV show "House Arrest Three" at the very beginning, and find out that a murder occurs on the set under the watchful eye of the cameras, but the identity of the victim isn't even revealed until halfway through the book. The killer, of course, is not revealed until the end of the book. So the book reads very fast -- I finished it in a couple of days -- partly because author Ben Elton parcels out the revelations at just the right intervals to keep you hooked.

But Elton's main reason to write the book is so he can wickedly skewer the kind of people who pursue fame on reality TV shows, as well as the adoring fans who lap up the idiocy as long as it's "good telly". I'd fault Elton for being so misanthropic if I didn't agree with him. The author's spokesman in the novel is the policeman heading the murder case, a traditional old fogey who complains constantly about having to watch the "House Arrest" tapes for clues. The policeman's unhipness is also a source of humor in the book, so it seems like Elton can also make fun of himself in the midst of his moral outrage. I especially enjoyed his mockery of the Minister of Culture, who appears on a TV program to emphasize how the government supports quality programs like "House Arrest", because we have to listen to young people and give them what they want, because they are our future. Elton's exciting murder mystery is a fancy wrapper around a bitter piece of candy.

The book is funny as well -- the program's participants are a believeable array of twentysomethings looking to jumpstart a career or promote a cause by making a name for themselves on camera. Their vacuous language and touching gullibility ring true throughout the book, as is the fickle nature of the viewing public's favor. The whole package ends up being quite enjoyable. It goes by a bit TOO fast perhaps, and the novel pretty much plays just one note about the inanity of popular youth culture, but the message is well-taken and the murder mystery makes the medicine go down smoothly.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ten little snugglers or the housetrap, July 4, 2002

By 

Ventura Angelo (Brescia, Lombardia Italy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead Famous (Paperback)

Get ready for a satire of the "Big Brother" kind of programs that's also a modern version of the classical mystery story : a small group of people enclosed in a limited space,one of them a killer:Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" or " Murder in the sky" spring to mind. The satire and the mystery intertwine in a delicious manner,so that the clues to the reader (there are some) are almost undetectable. The charachters are plausible, the interplay sometimes wildly funny. I've loved it, especially the trick of adding a further touch of uncertainty, by letting you guess who the victim shall be. The end is pure Nero Wolfe and Hercule Poirot: the suspects re-united,and the detective who having summarised the case, absolves the innocents and culminate pointing the index finger to the culprit. All in the modern showbiz multimedial setting. That's also a social satire from a conservative point of view, and some point Ben Elton makes are worth consideration. What can I say more? Dead Famous has to be read to be believed.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death in the fast lane, April 1, 2003

By 

S. Cornforth "Steve Cornforth" (Liverpool, UK England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dead Famous (Paperback)

Ben Elton writes as he performs - 100 miles an hour with few stops for breath. Warning - do not start reading this unless you have time to finish it in one sitting. Once you have started you will not stop. The old formula of the whodunnit story bringing together a group of people under one roof is brilliantly translated into a 'Big Brother' house. The whole thing is televised by Peeping Tom Productions, including the murder.

The inmates are repulsive in every way. Only the physically repulsive anarchist Woggle is a likeable character although he also has his dark side. Best of all is the portrayal of the cynicism of reality TV. The ending was a touch predictable but no less entertaining and clever for that. A great read.