SOMETHING ROTTEN

In Book Four of the popular Thursday Next series, Jasper Fforde continues his weird and wonderful alternate England of 1988. Here Thursday’s mission is to restore her husband, who has been eradicated from the story. The Minotaur is running rampant across all literature. Hamlet has left his play for the real world, leaving it open to a hostile takeover by the Merry Wives of Windsor. The Goliath Corporation has decided to offer a new religion in which the corporation becomes a megalomaniac, tyrannical God aiming for world domination. Thursday’s mom is having a fling with Otto Von Bismarck, and Lady Emma Hamilton may or may not be diddling the melancholy Dane. Narrator Emily Gray is delightful as Thursday--witty, frequently befuddled, crisp, and bright. Her timing and sense of punning are deliciously appropriate to Fforde’s playful tone. This might be the funniest yet. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/MAY 05]