“Imagine you have to break someone’s arm.”
Is this a satire? I don’t know!
Part of the issue of this book is that people keep claiming it’s a satire. I am not so sure.
Years ago I read Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Parody, which gets into the question of parody, satire, and spoof, in art and writing, and thinking about the venn diagram that defines all these terms. The basic idea is that parody is imitation, and sometimes comment (usually comment), but that that doesn’t mean the same thing as satire.
I think we are dealing more so with parody then satire, and spoof by extension, here.
The result to me is a perfectly solid spy and assassin for hire plot, with jokes (some funny) from a surprising author. It’s more compelling as a thriller than as a comedy, and I think that’s probably not a great thing for it.
It’s hilariously 1990s. Like if you wanted to read a 1990s books, here you go. The plot is not that dissimilar to plenty of other books and movies. There’s some Maltese Falcon here for you; there’s some Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid here for you, and that’s great, but the issue is that they’re great.
Part of the issue is that while Hugh Laurie is very funny, and a solid comedy writer, it’s hard to write a funny book. I don’t often find that funny people write funny books. Not in the sense that funny people, known for being funny (especially actors and comedians), and well, I don’t know that he has here. It’s actually a solid thriller otherwise.