The Fandom of the Operator - Hardcover

Rankin, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385602561 ISBN 13: 9780385602563

Publisher: Transworld Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Gary Cheese is 19 and works for British Telecom as an operator. His hobbies include watching TV, walking his dog, going down to the pub, and attempting to re-animate the dead.

About this title

Reviews

Upon "the tragic early death" of British spoofmaster Rankin, his latest novel was dictated from the beyond to medium Lorretta Rune or so claims the book's back-flap author description. Longtime fans know better, of course: Rankin is a master of sophisticated (and sophomoric) practical jokes. His novels are cult classics in England and are attracting a growing following in the U.S. In this installment, Gary Charlton Cheese, abused child, serial killer, amateur necromancer, rabid fan of deceased writer P.P. "Charles" Penrose and bulb boy at the local telephone exchange, decides to "change things" in his boring life. Then he discovers, with the assistance of another employee, that the telephone exchange harbors a secret: FLATLINE, a phone line to the dead. "You dial in the full name of the deceased and the date of their departure. Then times the figure that comes up on the screen by the age of the person when they died and take away the year they were born and, wallah, you have your dialing code," explains a developmental services employee to Cheese. And voil , Cheese finds himself in communication with the dead. Subsequently, a whole new world opens up for the put-upon hero, whose wife, Sandra, has been shagging other guys, including his "bestest friend" in the whole world, Dave. Now he can talk to his dead dad or, say, Elvis but more importantly, he can dial up Penrose. The convoluted plot invariably leads to the question all fans must ask their favorite author "Where do you get your ideas from?" and the answer is revealed in the inimitable, roundabout Rankin way. Happily ridiculous and relentlessly funny, this is just the ticket for those who like dark British farce.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Transworld Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385602561
• ISBN 13: 9780385602563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288