Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. In all honesty this is a fantastic, clever and very contemporary novel. It's so enjoyable to read something that is set so carefully in the political present, yet neatly refers to the character's academic past lives. Including a reference to Sherlock Holmes and the Locked Room just made it fascinating and a really pleasurable novel to read.

I have previously read Coe’s “What A Carve Up” (1994) and its part sequel “Number 11” (2015) – both drawing on English Farce and more unusually horror B-movies for a social satire on English society and politics; as well as his chocolate factory-based family based social history of English post war society “Bournville”. He is also well known for his (not read by me) satirical/political trilogy “The Rotters Club” (2001), “The Closed Circle” (2004) and then the much later “Middle England” (2018) which revisited the characters from the first two novels as a way of examining British public and political life over some 8 years leading up to, through and in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum.

And this his latest and I think 15th or so novel draws on many similar ideas. Rather than B-movie influences it draws on three literary tropes/genres (cosy crime – think Richard Osman, dark academia - think Secret History and autofiction) but in a very explicit way. And the satirical and examination of British political life is set over a much shorter period – in essence the 49 days of the disastrous Liz Truss Prime Ministerial reign (an early scene in the second part of the novel takes place in a “well preserved 17th century in which still [bears] its original name – The Fresh Lettuce” – itself an example of the way in which the novel mixes both obvious satire with a deeper level of examination of the British political body).

And although I say that the novel focuses on those 49 days both Coe and one of his key characters Christopher Swann, a slightly obsessive blogger, focus their attention more widely, on the long road to power which the US/UK National Conservative movement has taken to power culminating (if that is the word) in the Trump/Truss pairing.

After a brief cameo appearance by a detective pursuing a suspect on a train to the annoying (and to any fellow commuters sadly familiar) soundtrack of “See It. Say It. Sorted” (which then gives the book its three main sections which match its three genres), the book opens with its main character being Phyl back from University and living, at something of a loose end, with her parents in their vicarage (her mother Joanne a Vicar). The family is visited by Swann – a Cambridge University friend of Joanne – who is on his way to a TrueCon convention and brings with him his adopted daughter Rashida. Joanne and Christopher’s conversation turns to their University days – Emeric Coutts a Philosophy professor who ran some infamous right-wing salons and later influenced Thatcherism, a fellow student Roger Wagstaff who influenced by those now leads the TrueCon movement and his obsessive female sidekick (then and now decades later) Rebecca Wood, a mutual Brian friend recently deceased of cancer who has written a memoir of their time. Phyl meanwhile decides for want of any alternative short term career plans to write a novel and inspired by Rashida thinks of three different possible genres.

And the novel then unfolds in three parts using both the British Transport mantra and the three genres.

Part One: See It: is “Murder at Wetherby Pond: A Cosy Crime Mystery” telling off Christopher’s trip to the conference (narrowly avoiding an accident en route) and his rather feisty interactions with the host – Randolph Early of Wetherby – as well as Roger and Rebecca who are only too aware of his hostility to their movement at their exact moment of triumph – their set piece speaker even being unable to attend as her has been made Chancellor of the Exchequer. The speaker’s place is taken unconventionally by Richard Wilkes – a Professor of Literature at an Italian University, invited as he has dedicated much of his career to posthumously building the reputation of Peter Cockerill a a young experimental novelist with decided right wing and proto national conservative leanings (and who committed suicide shortly after an appearance at one of the salons in the 1980s). When a murder occurs with an apparent clue “r 8/2” there are a number of suspects all of whom are interviewed by the detective from the prologue.

We then get Part Two: Say It “The Shadow Chamber: A Dark Academia” – Brian’s memoirs which the detective reads for evidence and which reveal much more of what went on in 1980s Cambridge; before Phyl and Rashida take up the story in Part Three Sorted: “Reborn: An Exercise in Autofiction” (one writing in first person and one in third person and arguing about the most appropriate autofiction form) and take up back to the arrest that opens the book – before an Epilogue gives us a new metafictional perspective on what we have been reading.

Overall, I found the book very strong.

The change of literary styles makes the book always entertaining, as well as themselves being a nice satire on (in I would say more Parts 1 and 3) styles that increasingly dominate fiction sales – as an aside Part 2 was in this respect a misstep, the Dark Academia theme in this case more adapted to fit the story than the story written through a pre established genre.

The story is also engaging – the characters are interesting, the plot is lively and the different periods (1980s Cambridge – a few years earlier than when I went there and in a considerably more traditional college; and contemporary England) are both well conveyed.

And the book uses Coe’s rather over the top style rather neatly. The coincidences which drive the investigation (2/8 has at least two obvious meanings and one which only emerges a lot later; four people near the murder have the initials RW) feel amusingly absurd rather than ridiculous, and the political message underneath is a serious one particularly as the events set out in the novel are in no way more ridiculous or less believable than the 49 days they actually portray when extreme free market liberalism fell spectacularly foul of the free markets (just as supposedly working class socialism has lost all connection to the working class) but their consequences only too real.

And as a result this is my favourite of the author’s books I have read and is recommended.

Coe is playing with genres, tropes, Gen Z prejudices and as always adds his own brand of political satire.
All in all a most enjoyable read, taking us from cosy crime via dark academia to autofiction and back without losing the plot surrounding a far-right conspiracy to privatise the NHS.
Hard to explain, just read it!

One of my favourite authors. His Benjamin Trotter trilogy was brilliant. What a Carve Up - excellent, and all his other novels very good. This one is also very good, but very different. It is based around the very short time of Liz. Truss's Prime Minister's reign.
The book starts on a train journey and detective inspector Prudence Freeborne is about to arrest a suspect. More of her later. We next meet Phyl. she read English at Newcastle University. She is now back living with her parents in the south, and working at a sushi bar in Heathrow airport Terminal 5 She slices the fish and peels and dices the vegetables and watches the plates of Japanese styled food go around and around on the carousel! Phyl wants to write. She likes to lose herself watching episodes of the American TV programme Friends on catch up. Phyl's mother Joanne is a vicar. She studied at Cambridge University and has two good friends in Christopher and Brian. Andrew is her understanding husband. Chris writes articles against the far right in politics. His nemesis is Roger Wagstaff who they were at Cambridge with. A book Britannia Unchained is discussed. It was written by Truss together with Kwasi Kwarteng ( who became her Chancellor of the Exchequer ), Priti Patel, Dominic Raab and Chris. Skidmore.
Brian dies and leaves a written recollection which is very controversial. Then there is a murder at Wetherby Hall and that is when we meet Pru. again. Phyl meets Chris's adopted daughter Rashida ( who has been living in New York ) and they get on well together after a shaky start.
An involved but very enjoyable book. Just read it and enjoy. Very much recommended.

I enjoyed this story a lot. It was funny and clever, starting in one direction and moving into another. I haven’t read anything by Jonathan Coe before but can understand why he is well thought of.

I must admit I didn't enjoy this book from Jonathan as much as his previous novels. It seemed somewhat disjointed and jumped about a bit although I did enjoy parts but some of it was a bit of a slog. Good characters some of whom one can sort of recognise from political public life. Mainly set in Cambridge at the University in the 80s and the north Cotswolds at a political gathering of Conservative extremists around the time of the Queen's death and Liz Truss's rise and fall.

What an odd book! I felt it started well and I was definitely easily drawn in to the story and keen to read it but at some point it becomes a novel within a novel and then maybe a third novel pops up, all a bit hard to follow and unnecessary. No idea why it couldnt be written as a straight story, almost gimmicky like this. It felt like an easy read detective story for half the book with some very obvious "clues" and some great leaps of deduction by the sleuths but maybe that was supposed to reflect the immaturity of the two girls writing the narrative. And every so often we get a Liz Truss scene and the death of QEII which are such non sequiturs they are jarring. It feels as if he couldnt decide what genre this book was. All a bit insubstantial and nose dived after first third.

This started off well and I enjoyed the set up of the story. However, the story became rather messy and disappointing. It was far from being the funny satire I was expecting. Each section of the book had a different focus and perspective. It turned out to be a book within a book but there were also other books within these books. There were so many seemingly unrelated aspects of this book that it seemed to change direction with each new section. The characters weren't particularly well drawn. The whole book seemed to drag and could have been considerably shortened. By the last 75% I just wanted it to end.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
I very much enjoy Jonathan Coe’s writing, and this is no exception. However I’m not sure that his talent quite lies in the murder mystery genre. This is an interesting story that jumps between various characters’ perspectives and timelines, only for an 11th hour rug pull that *does* fit with the overall storyline as we latterly understand it to be, but may find some readers unsatisfied.

A modern day Agatha Christie and police drama rolled into one. A great read, good characters well depicted and it mixed politics and crime in an effective and compelling manner. Highly recommended.

A satire on recent UK politics which is quite well written and funny in places. The problem is, is that the period it is satirising is more wacky than the written version. Real life at that time is almost beyond the satirical. As I have said to friends about some comedians, it would be hilarious except that it is far too close to the truth. The accuracy of the satire makes it hit home just how not funny it is. That was the problem I found with this book. maybe when this book is read when the UK is in a much better place (I hope so) it will be funnier and less painfull

There are two excellent novels this year using a country house murder mystery and the cosy crime novel genre. The first is Kate Atkinson's Death At The Sign Of The Rook. The other, far superior, book is The Proof Of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe. It's the perfect summation of the post-Brexit drift towards fascism and deregulation in the UK. It's also howlingly funny. There's a scene where a key character, Christopher, drops into a pub for a drink to watch Liz Truss's first speech as Prime Minister. The pub is called The Fresh Lettuce. It's the best thing Coe has ever written, and the sharpest.

Penguin sent me a pre-publication copy for reviewing. I’d not read anything by this author so I was interested to see how I got on.

The author has a reputation of writing satirical novels which explore contemporary Britain. This book explores events of 2022 and the disastrous government of Liz Truss, the effect of which was to crash the economy through proposing tax cuts through unfunded borrowing.

Principal characters involve Phyl, who after uni, is working long hours in a sushi bar. There is left-leaning blogger Christopher Swann who infiltrates a conference of very right-leaning academics and politicos. So far, right up my street.

However, at the 25% mark I was struggling read this novel and abandoned it completely at the 35% mark. Sorry, Penguin but here’s why.

The humour and satire simple don’t work. The problem is that the bizarre statements and concepts as evidenced by the Truss government and her allied politicos are so bizarre that they are beyond satire. The Daily Star newspaper famously live streamed a lettuce predicting that it would last longer that Truss’s 49-day period in office. The lettuce won. So when we read that Christopher visits a pub before arriving at the TrueCon conference and we learn that the pub is called ‘The Fresh Lettuce’, we are invited to join in the merriment of the author’s witty allusion. This is the level of the humour and wit in this novel. You’ve probably guessed that I wasn’t amused.

At the conference, the novel shifts gear and segues into a murder mystery of the locked room variety. More characters are introduced – DI Freeborne and DS Jakes. At this point I was struggling through interminable prose, overloaded with detail and lack of focus so like Liz Truss, when it all got too much, I quit.

I think that with very heavy editing to slim it down, this novel might have had legs as a short story or even a novella, but like the Truss government, it had ambitions far above it’s potential.

So if you like political satire and ‘Midsomer Murders’ style murder mystery, then this book might be for you. It wasn’t for me. But I’m grateful to Penguin for the chance to read and review this novel.

Another excellent story from Jonathan Coe. I absolutely loved the Rotters Club trilogy so was excited to read this new novel. I was not disappointed. Bringing together political satire and murder mystery Coe has produced an excellent piece of writing that will have you laughing and crying.

I enjoyed how the book kept in touch with actual events, which made it a really enjoyable read. Some good twists that I didn’t see coming too and well-developed characters.

As a huge Coe fan this was exactly what I needed - a state-of-the-nation from the wittiest writer I know. Genre busting in many ways with great originality. Top drawer.

A book with in a book that's clever, carefully constructed expertly written in classic Coe style capturing the time and place of the political landscape and mood of society. He captures the lose of the Queen and the dreaded Liz Truss's time as PM perfectly while at the same time satirises current trends in both popular and literary fiction against the backdrop of the fall of the nation.

It kinda has it all one book. Want a scathing review of the Conservative party and state of our nation ? Want a crime story? Want a friendship tale? You have it here plus some added extras

Characters are perhaps the usual stereotypes but with Coe's writing skills this isn't a problem they are well developed and seem real. I always love how Coe nods at characters we have been introduced in his previous novels even just briefly( Josephine Winshaw appears here)
I love the simplicity of his writing. There is nothing fancy he gets straight to the point with characters and setting. They’re all contemporary; people you can recognise be the setting be in the 80's or present day, he further proves that he can right all sexes, all ages , all classes and all races without sounding false or that this variation in society is being written by older white male. This is skilled writing.



I really liked the satire about the cosy crime genre it is well done here while it pokes fun at the genre it does so in fair way ,the cosy crime book with in this is well written and as good as any of the best ones think Richard Osmond vibes

While I really enjoyed this I did feel the plot dragged in places and sometimes struggled to move on because of the structure however it ends perfectly and is well worth the slower parts . It ends in typical Coe style clever and satisfying. All the little hints and quirks all come together in a way that's stylish and classy not big bang shock twists just pure genius.

As always Coe proves why he is one of the best British authors we have. Expert level writing. With numerous laugh out loud moments and left thinking of a few chilling observations on the state of the nation. No can write this type of book quite like Coe. Only a writer with the skill of Coe could pull off a novel as daring as this, mixing crime fiction and political satire but he does so with great flair and, indeed, compassion. It's also genuinely funny in parts.

I found Coe's books during Covid I still think of the accidental woman and what a crave up. I find his writing compelling, engaging, witty and so super smart. This book is no
exception.

If you haven't read Coe before start with this and then devour his back catalogue you won't be disappointed. If you are fan all I can say is you won't be disappointed...

This is a clever, carefully constructed novel with Jonathan Coe's distinctive sense of period and context. Set in the short reign of Liz Truss as Prime Minister, the novel moves back and forth through the student days of the central character to the present day, weaving a mystery of personal and political intrigue around a sudden death. Both settings are credible and evocative of the time, giving an air of veracity to the events. However, some of the changes of viewpoint are confusing or less successful than others and can be rather long-winded at times. Overall an engaging and gripping plot with a clear contemporary feel.

What a mash up! For a few years now, I've been enjoying Jonathan Coe's softer, more wide-ranging explorations of Englishness, culture and mortality, often female-led and political with a small p. I'd found myself wondering how I'd feel if he returned to his nineties/early noughties style of explicitly political, blokier satire, heavily meta-textual and playing with genre to the point of bending the reader's mind backwards. Well, turns out I'm here for it!

This book, featuring a sinister cabal of far-right Tory nightmares, set during the 50-day premiership of Liz 'Lettuce' Truss, is a bit of a sequel to What A Carve Up! which is referenced at least once and has some themes in common with this new novel (basically, if someone's struggling to get a medical appointment, START WORRYING).

Shortly before the Queen's death (a scene which presumably didn't make it into earlier novel Bournville because of timing) Phyl Maidstone returns from university in Newcastle and, stultified at her parents' countryside home, starts trying to write a book. She's torn between three popular 'very now,' genres - cosy crime, 'dark academia' and autofiction, so what transpires is told in all three genres, with dizzying overlays of folk songs, episodes of Friends, Gormenghast, Women in Love, Don't Look Now - again, a bit of Jonathan Coe as film geek there. He can't resist it!

The thread tying the three narratives together is a murder mystery featuring semi-retired, very hungry DI Pru Freeborne, a mysterious professor and a rare proof copy of a book by Peter Cockerill, a frustrated and misanthropic author whose panic about literary recognition and combination of modernism and conservatism may owe something to Coe's extensive studies of B.S Johnson (the author, not Boris).

Literary legacy is an odd business (Rushdie, Barnes, Ishiguro and Amis are referenced a lot) and Coe occupies a strange position, being someone whose output and quality of writing has, I think, improved, but who isn't as ubiquitous in bookshops as he used to be? Some authors would turn bitter about this and start delivering worrying comments about 'diversity' and 'identity politics,' but apart from a few benign jokes, this approach is not for Coe (his take-down of a conservative conference speech about wokeness is one of the funniest things I've read all year).

Instead, he seems philosophical and the most political he gets about it is to defend writing fiction as a form of self-mastery more Stoical than it gets credit for. By writing, skint twenty-something Phyl takes control of the one thing she can - 'the empire between her ears.'

I wouldn't have made the choices Coe makes with the ending, and rather ended on the dizzying high of the murder mystery, but this is as robust a defence of writing and culture as you're likely to read, as well as being far more entertaining than most of the male, irony-loving 'canon' that was so lauded in the nineties. In short, so entertaining was this book that I'm not quite sure it should be legal.

A highly compelling read. I had to really concentrate to keep the threads and timelines straight in my mind as it’s not an easy read, but I very much enjoyed the writing style and originality of this book. It also made me view certain events in politics over the last few years slightly differently. Would make a great film or tv show.