‘My name is Gary. I’m a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in London. To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. I did make a good connection with a girl, but that blew up in my face and smacked my arse with a fish slice.’

Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers.

And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life…

A page-turning story with a cast of unforgettable characters, The Satsuma Complex is the brilliantly funny first novel by bestselling author and comedian Bob Mortimer.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

I don’t often buy into “celebrity books” – those written by someone known for something other than writing. Actors, musicians, TV personalities, you get the idea. But I quite like Bob Mortimer. His humour is pretty straight forward – simple one line jokes that don’t take a month to reach the punchline. Dry and understated. So I thought I’d give his first book a whirl. I picked this one up on Audible, narrated by Bob Mortimer and Sally Phillips.

Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver in many areas. It felt flat and bland despite being a story with a mystery to be unravelled. Instead, the focus felt like it was on the blossoming relationship between the main characters, Gary and Emily. Any sense of jeopardy felt lacking, and very flat.

The story itself felt as though the author was determined to remind the reader who they are, imparting their tone and style as a comedian onto the book, which made the dialogue feel off. I know it was an intentional design choice, but I really struggled with it. I won’t be in a hurry to read any of his further books.

My rating: