When I first began reading this book, I was quite worried about the content. A number of characters were introduced that fulfilled the stereotypes of racist, sexist and even “up to no good old whingers”. So for the first few chapters I was quite iffy about continuing to read the novel, wondering if these characters were appropriate in this day an age where there is a huge focus on these issues – especially in Australia. However after a while I realised the intent of the author, which was to show case these characters as the ‘villains’ of the novel. Once I realised that, I sat back, got comfortable and enjoyed the ride.
The plot follows a radio announcer who is after the fame and fortune and will stop at nothing to achieve this, including exploiting others and even manufacturing events so that he can get the scoop and swoop in to save the day. It also follows two elderly gents – one of whom is a big busy body who complains about everything including the people in his area believing them all to be terrorists. Whereas the other elderly gent is fairly neutral and often tries to calm his friend down. There are a number of other characters who play a fairly large part in this story, which revolves around misunderstandings, trying to the right thing but making more of a mess, making bad problems worse and in general making life miserable for people – either on purpose or by accident.
The characters are developed nicely, with a nice balance between the good and evil being balanced out, as well as a number of characters growing within the story, getting their just desserts or changing their way of thinking.
An easy read with a number of good laughs within this text, I award it 3 stars.