Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

This book is genuinely rip-snortingly funny.  I may occasionally raise a wry grin or even a subdued chuckle at a book but this one had me guffawing all over the place, so much so my other half banned me from taking this one in to work to read - fearing, I think, they would think I had lost my last fragile grip on sanity.  The humour is relentlessly British which has a strange sort of comfort to it and there is no attempt made to gussie things up or explain them for a non-British audience.  Not only did the strength of the humour surprise me but the book does not read like a collaboration at all, it has a distinct voice with the odd bit that makes you go clearly a Gaiman idea or I can see Pratchett all over that thought.  The writing blends seamlessly together and you get the idea that the authors had an absolute blast creating this version of our world.

I did find it went off the boil a little bit towards to the end - a bit too much Newt Pulsifer and not enough Aziraphale or Crowley, but that is a minor niggle.  But it does point to the fact that it was the back and forth between the Angel and the Demon that made this one for me.  Having spent so long putting up with Humanity on the Earth they have become rather fond of them and don't really want to see them destroyed so when the call comes in from their diametrically opposed Heads Of Department that Armageddon is due both of them feel a sinking sense of disappointment and get their heads together to see if they can divert the ineffability of it all.  Fortunately, thanks to Sister Mary Locquacious, the Anti-Christ seems to have gone missing and without him things are going to be a bit tricky to get going.  Still, the Four Bikers Of The Apocalypse are primed and ready so there's that going for the Great Plan.

I could spend hours dissecting this book and reeling off favourite passages and little tics that pleased me.  I shall, for once, refrain.  Apart from saying that the fact The Devil gets the M25, Manchester and Glasgow makes an awful lot of sense - I work in the Transport Industry and the M25 strikes dread in to all our hearts; I'm from Lancashire and Manchester is, well, Manchester (enough said); I'm married to a Glaswegian.  Finally it makes sense, it's all Crowley's fault!

The interplay between the characters is superbly written and the story sucks you right in.  I am sure there is much I missed as I didn't so much read this book as absorb it over two sittings.  Sadly these two sittings were a week apart.

My big issue now is whether or not to watch the serialisation of the book.