The Crime of the Century

I really tried to read The Crime of the Century. Originally Kinglsey Amis wrote this story as a newspaper serial in a British paper, The Sunday Times, in the 1970s. While it may have worked as a newspaper serial, it definitely did not work as a book.

The difficulty I had was the number of characters introduced in the first 30 pages. I have not counted them (I am guessing around 20). It was extremely confusing to turn a page and find YET another character introduced. I read the first 25 pages twice. After the second reading, I set the book down for a week. Picking it up again, I discovered I would have to read the first 25 pages again. I could not remember who the characters were. That was it for me. Back to the library it goes.

Even more annoyingly, the author wrote a brilliant introduction. It was entertaining and well written. It made me excited to read the book! How disappointing! If only he could have written as clearly and lucidly for the story.

If anyone has read this book and could write a Cliff notes version - please let me know! This book appears to be out of print.

Book rating: 1 Star for effort.