bob mortimer book review satsuma

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The satsuma complex, by bob mortimer.

🏆 Winner of the 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction

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“Yes, there are very good jokes in it. But it’s also just a humorous way of approaching the world that feels like a beautiful infusion of sanity. It’s easy to be anxious, concerned, traumatised, disrupted… the world is really difficult. But a bit of Mortimer makes it bearable and amusing, and he reminds you of the joy of talking and telling stories.” Read more...

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Bob Mortimer - The Satsuma Complex

“an offbeat romantic thriller, as if salvador dali scripted a hitchcock film… it’s as a comic novel that the book is most memorable. it contains the funniest description of somebody having a bath that you’re ever likely to read… but there is genuine tension at times, and i came to believe in and care about the central characters. more than just a tour of the wonderfully weird mind of mortimer, it works – for the most part – as a novel.”, no major spoilers.

Whether it’s with long-time comedy partner Vic Reeves, his outlandish tales on Would I Lie to You?, or his angling adventures in Gone Fishing, Bob Mortimer has been making us laugh for decades, and his memoir And Away… was critically acclaimed upon its release in 2021. Those of us who enjoyed reading of Mortimer’s misadventures will no doubt have been pleased to learn that the comedian was following it up with a novel, though some may have been a little surprised to find that it’s a crime novel, and may well be found on the shelf with titles such as Gone Girl or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Those who adore Bob’s cuddly, absurdist humour shouldn’t fret, The Satsuma Complex may include guns, murder, mysterious women and many of the usual trappings of the crime genre but, filtered through Mortimer’s unique style of comedy, the end product is a crime novel that’s a thrilling page-turner injected with the warm humour you’d expect from its author.

Anyone who’s read Mortimer’s memoir will immediately recognise the protagonist is loosely based on Bob himself. Gary is in his early 30s, lives in London, works as a solicitor, and uses his overactive imagination to inject a bit of colour into his otherwise rather beige life, namely by having imaginary conversations with a no-nonsense squirrel who lives close by. Gary’s life is quickly turned upside down when, one night, he meets a mysterious and beautiful young woman and soon after learns that an old colleague with a fondness for novelty socks has vanished only hours after giving Gary a USB stick in the shape of a corncob. It’s not long before Gary finds himself way out of his depth, fighting to stay ahead of gangsters, corrupt police, private investigators, and a woman he’s fallen for but certainly can’t trust, not to mention a very judgemental squirrel.

At a glance, it could be assumed that Mortimer has fallen for all the usual cliches of a crime novel; the main tropes are indeed all present, and yet, filtered through Bob’s slightly off-the-wall humour, readers will find themselves in a murder mystery that feels refreshingly new. After all, when was the last time Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple reviewed their case with a personified squirrel? While Mortimer’s sense of fun is certainly enough to get your attention, it’s his wonderful cast of characters that will make sure you stick around. Gary may be a bit of an every man, the people around him are beautifully brought to life, and I genuinely found myself invested to the very end, hoping that those who come to aid Gary in his quest for the truth would themselves get a happy ending. The back and forth banter Gary develops with his retired neighbour, Grace, and her laconic dog Lasso was particularly fun, and Grace went from a character that readers may initially feel cold to, to one they genuinely wish they could be neighbours with.

It came as no surprise that a beloved comedian like Mortimer could write funny, warm characters, but he’s equally skilled at writing the sort of people you really wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, perhaps the sort of people he encountered from time to time in during his pre-showbiz career as a solicitor. With his insider knowledge of the law and its legal system, Mortimer is able to craft a story that, when it’s not being thoroughly amusing, shines a light on the flaws in criminal justice, reminding us that, for some, the police can be as equally intimidating as any gang. Make no mistake, this isn’t designed to be a gritty, hard-hitting critique of the justice system, but there are a few sharp lines here and there that reflect the current turbulent climate we live in, and one can only imagine what Mortimer might have to say were he to take the gloves off.

While the banter Gary exchanges with many of the characters he encounters is comedy enough, I particularly enjoyed the aforementioned conversations he has with a local squirrel, who acts as a sort of sounding board as our protagonist tries to gather his thoughts and decide on his next move. Despite their chats being a figment of his imagination, the squirrel is largely unimpressed by Gary’s attempts at playing detective, and one could argue the true hero of the tale is our furry friend, who personifies Gary’s subconscious as he attempts to figure out exactly what’s going on. Their contestations are a highlight of an already excellent book, and one interaction ends with the fluffy-tailed rodent trying to convince Gary to re-assess his next move, saying: “I would think around that decision a bit deeper than you obviously have”.

The Satsuma Complex may not reinvent the crime genre, but it certainly feels like a breath of fresh air in an area that that been inundated with bland new additions for centuries. If you enjoy a good thriller, but are growing tired of grizzled detectives, poorly written femme fatales, and twists you can spot a mile off, then Mortimer’s novel is likely for you, not bad at all for his first foray into the genre. If you’re already a fan, and are eager for a little more Bob in your life, then this is absolutely for you, and no doubt crime fiction fans will be hoping for a second instalment.

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Added 5th December 2022

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The Satsuma Complex review: Bob Mortimer’s debut novel is a cosily enjoyable and absurd murder mystery

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With his status as national treasure assured, Bob Mortimer can expect a lot of goodwill for his debut novel, an amiable crime thriller.

What’s more, this foray into fiction shares common ground with the likes of Richard Osman and Rev Richard Coles, whose successful transitions from light entertainers into light entertainment authors is clearly a blueprint.

Happily, The Satsuma Complex doesn’t feel like a rush job to capitalise on the bestselling exploits of its author’s peers.

Mortimer imbues his quirky characters and even stranger situations – the unwilling hero Gary Thorn has regular chats with a squirrel – with all the surreal charm that has marked out his comedy since his Big Night Out days with Vic Reeves.

In that sense it feels authentically Mortimer, as he delights in the absurd at every opportunity.

As for the cosy crime caper that Gary gets mixed up in, our unremarkable but amusingly stoic legal assistant finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation when his work colleague, Brendan, is reported dead following their evening in a south London pub.

An evening in which he also has a flirtatious episode with a strange but endearing young woman, who may or may not be involved in the mystery.

There’s an encrypted USB stick, police corruption and loads of identity-swapping plot twists before the big set-piece conclusion.

As a thriller, it’s admittedly lightweight but because Mortimer has such affection for his characters and appetite for regular flights of fancy that can sprinkle magic over humdrum situations, it’s a genuinely enjoyable debut.

You can almost hear Mortimer narrating it with a little knowing chuckle. And that, of course, can only be a good thing.

The verdict: Mortimer’s debut novel is a cosily enjoyable and absurd murder mystery

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer (Simon & Schuster) is out now

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The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

Review of the comedian's first novel

It’s an instant bestseller, thanks to the celebrity of its author, but The Satsuma Complex is also a cracking page-turner, shot through with Bob Mortimer ’s distinctively quirky comic flair.

The story includes many of the usual crime thriller topes – from a possible femme fatale to the calmly intimidating nemesis – but also so many sweetly surreal peculiarities that it could only have been written by Bob Mortimer .

Take his description of the cologne Electricity by Seb Longcoq being ‘on the banana-y side of road-works’. A couple of dogs are given the names Zak Briefcase and Lengthy Parsnips and his central character deploys the chat-up line, ‘have you ever needed to use a tourniquet in your work environment?’. A seedy side character known as The Chump is essentially the Train Guy Mortimer mocks in online skits, ‘hilario’ and all

Our hero, Gary Thorn, is a reserved, 30-year-old solicitor’s assistant drifting through life in his sparse flat and cheap suit in Peckham, South London. That – as Mortimer described in last year’s fine memoir  And Away…  – was pretty much his life before he met Vic Reeves and found new purpose and joy.

Gary also likes to engage in chit-chat with the squirrel he encounters in the park every day, imagining the other side of the conversation. He doesn’t have many mates, see: a couple of blokes he watches football with maybe, or the occasional exchange with the cantankerous old woman next door.

When a work acquaintance (whom Gary calls ‘sexier than a cream horn on top of a polished school bell’) suggests a pint, perhaps Gary can add to his tally. Their encounter is cut short - but after being left alone he strikes up a conversation with an out-of-his-league girl with Doc Martens and a ‘clinically straight fringe’. She’s called Emily and Gary’s instantly besotted, only for her to vanish on him too.

When two policemen call round later to inform Gary his contact has would up dead, he becomes a hapless, beta Everyman caught up in a world of high crime and intrigue he’s pitifully ill-equipped for. And not even that bothered by – his motivation is just to wangle another encounter with the fragrant Emily.

Mortimer's writing strikes a good balance of compelling plot, delightfully absurd turns of phrase and engaging characterisation of the hero, even if some of the supporting cast are thinly drawn. But the charm and well-judged absurdity is more than enough for a book that’s funny from the start to the phoney endorsements on the back cover (‘Rollercoaster is not the word,’ gushes Annette Kurtain. ‘"Book" fits much better’)

 All this suggests that novel-writing is a very promising new direction for comedy’s latest national treasure.

• The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer is published by Gallery Books. It is also available from  Amazon , priced £8.49.

Published: 23 Nov 2022

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“It was a thick hardback – The Satsuma Complex . The jacket was dark blue and in the middle of the front cover there was a large satsuma orange, with the silhouette of a squirrel inside. It looked shit.” – Bob Mortimer, The Satsuma Complex .

Do not sell yourself short, Mortimer. From just half a page, the colloquial, humorous charm of Mortimer is asserted. The Satsuma Complex is light and breezy reading for those that can imagine the latter half of Reeves and Mortimer reading out an oddity in long form. His prose throughout feels frequently narrative, visual too. The Satsuma Complex does not have the structure that would usually be held to that sort of writing style, but Mortimer cuts through with clear, short sentences and weird detail that would otherwise be left in the first draft. It is a breath of fresh air and a light bit of fun with those ever-present hilarities so frequently found in his work on television. A big-screen adaptation of The Satsuma Complex may spring to mind immediately for the more imaginative.

As it rolls on, Mortimer begins to loosen from a well-served comedy structure in the first act into some genuine, very clever moments of keen detective work. The spiral of Gary into what is an underbelly of crime, corruption and solid steak and potato pies is as lightly delivered as it is committed and firmly rounded. Even within that and the solid character workings throughout are well-engaged breaks. The Satsuma Complex is paced beautifully and makes for a very light and engaged read, its solidification of consistency quite the treat for those that thought comedians and those in the public spotlight would not be up to the task of firing through with genuine dramatics or well-made reading material. It gives new light to what those in the comedic sphere can offer, a transition that gives Mortimer a chance at being quite the novelist.

Much of that comes from a surprising level of cemented qualities and flickers of prose. Long-running sentences break the flow of shorter spats of tension in previous chapters. A knack for rummaging through the past and making the backstory, character relationships and build-up as natural and entertaining as possible. The Satsuma Complex’s structure is surprisingly good, especially given that it could buckle under the fruitier concepts at any moment. Its simplicity in the story, the descriptions of it and the locations are inherent to the colloquial charm that comes from its South London-set features. There is a charming flow to that, utilised well by the prose Mortimer offers. He captures the heart of a single, middle-aged solicitor, using throwaway descriptions of bananas mixed with hot concrete to underline a real, authentic style.

Coffee as an emergency service, longing for the return of a meet-cute and murdered friends all pile onto The Satsuma Complex and it is the great range and loose style of Mortimer that keeps it afloat. It is a book for those that find themselves set in their temporary ways, the “abandoned fridge” lifestyle as Mortimer so comically calls it. The Satsuma Complex is lovely, light and charming. A bit like a Battenberg slice, which Gary appears fond of throughout. Grace, Emily and company make for good subplot devices, nice intermissions to break the flow of thought that Gary often presents. There is a multitude of narrative threads and figures under this surface, knocking back and forth with real fun and commitment to the mystery at the heart of it.

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The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer review – the sleuth is out there

The much-loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart

G ary Thorn is in the middle of investigating a serious criminal case in south London involving police corruption, domestic violence, possibly even murder, when he stops in the street to speak to a passing squirrel. He tells the squirrel what he’s planning to do next and the creature, as ventriloquised by Gary, tries to talk him out of it. “I would think around that decision a bit deeper than you obviously have,” it says.

This is how the comedian Bob Mortimer writes a crime novel: with squirrel interludes, recurring duck gags and a private eye with a fondness for novelty socks. The latter is an acquaintance of Gary’s who runs out on him one night in the pub, leaving behind a USB stick in the shape of a corncob and is later reported dead under suspicious circumstances. On the same night, Gary is also abandoned by a mysterious young woman with a button nose and severe fringe with whom he tries to flirt over steak and chips.

Gary is not a real detective. He a shy legal assistant at a Peckham solicitor’s office who panics at the first sign of danger and only persists with the case because he fancies the mysterious befringed woman who turns out to be embroiled in it.

Mortimer, himself a shy Peckham solicitor before he became a comedian, proves quite deft at writing crime fiction: the plot has a familiar noirish shape, complete with potential femme fatale, but there are enough surprises and reversals to keep it rattling along.

But it’s the details that really set this book apart. Off the wall doesn’t quite cover it. What other fictional sleuth would write “large bananas” in tiny letters on an architrave in his office to cheer himself up at work? Or assign the names Zak Briefcase and Lengthy Parsnips to a pair of dogs he passes in the street? Fans of Mortimer’s surrealist turns on Would I Lie to You? , or his internet sketch show Train Guy , won’t be disappointed. Nor will crime fiction devotees, if only they can get over the talking squirrels.

• Crime fiction
• The Observer
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An independent publishing website, book review – the satsuma complex by bob mortimer.

Bob is one of the funniest guys alive. He has a Tommy Cooper like gift of making you laugh out loud with the slightest mannerism.

His fictional debut is highly amusing too. I spent much of the time reading it imagining Bob on his laptop with a big grin on his face. That was until Vic Reeves smashed a frying pan on his head to provoke Bob into inserting his mouse somewhere within his assailant’s anatomy!

The book is a jolly crime caper come love story. I found Bob’s writing to be similar to Charlie Higson in style, another favourite author of mine. The Bob of Reeves & Mortimer, Shooting Stars, Would I Lie To You and Gone Fishing is here in spades, only without the unintended tumbles.

It is full of Bob like one liners and ripostes. Razor sharp wit and descriptive bath time, poor taste socks and bromance. His bad back cure is genius, but you should never accept a refreshing drink off the man if ever offered. Battenberg cake is fine though.

His one-to-ones with his imaginary squirrel friend are genius. That’s one mighty smart bushy tailed acorn eating rodent.

If you fancy an easy read with laugh out loud moments then this is for you. I can’t wait for his next effort.

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Book for Thought

Feeding TBRs since 2014

Review: The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

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…

My Thoughts…

I love a good mystery (even though I don’t read that many anymore), and even more so if any humour is promised so The Satsuma Complex sounded like just the book for me. I received a sampler from NetGalley (although I hadn’t immediately realised it wasn’t the full copy) and finished listening to it on audiobook on Storytel.

I’m not too familiar with Bob Mortimer and his brand of humour, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this , but I was in the mood for a light read and to switch it up a little after lots of fantasy books. Unfortunately, this didn’t really meet my expectations.

The premise was quite good and I liked the mystery aspect of it , though I won’t go into any details to avoid spoilers. I tend to like stories where we don’t really know which characters we can trust, and there was plenty of that going on here. However, for the most part, the characters just felt flat . I definitely appreciated the attempt at introducing a wide and varied cast, and there certainly were some colourful characters in there, but to me, they all felt very one-dimensional and I never actually started caring about any of them , which meant the stakes were very low whenever any amount of danger was involved.

I found the main character to be very annoying and… well, just not funny. I did like his relationship with his neighbour Grace and her dog, which I found wholesome and sweet, but he didn’t really have much else going for him. I found it very hard to get through the book and was bored for the most part . I really only finished it because it wasn’t overly long and I wanted to see if it would improve when everything wrapped up. The ending itself was good , but it didn’t really make up for the rest.

This is by no means a bad book; if anything, I found it fairly average , just like Gary: not anonymous, but not memorable either. It probably just wasn’t my kind of humour and others may like it a lot more, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Rating: 2/5

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Hi there! My name is Beatrice and I am an Italian bookworm who loves to read in English. I started Book for Thought in 2014 as a space to record my thoughts on books I read and be a part of the wonderful online book community. View all posts by Beatrice @ Book for Thought

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The Satsuma Complex Kindle Edition

• Print length 301 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher Gallery UK
• Publication date 27 Oct. 2022
• File size 1447 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B5S2MKDS
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery UK (27 Oct. 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1447 KB
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• Print length ‏ : ‎ 301 pages
• 347 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
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About the author

Bob mortimer.

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The Satsuma Complex

By Bob Mortimer

Loved it! 😍

Bob Mortimer's debut novel is pure Bob: a little surreal but good-natured which twinkles throughout with humour and friendship-and squirrels

I love Bob Mortimer - who doesn't? Having spent so many years with Vic Reeves, Bob is pretty much an entity in his own right and as an older man, he is fast becoming, if not having already obtained the status of, a national treasure. He has a warmth about him as well as being incredibly funny and both of these attributes pervade his first novel, The Satsuma Complex .

It's a bit of a thriller really, which may be a surprise. It tells the story of Gary, a solicitor in London who is not high-powered or highly ambitious: he is one of life's plodders. When he meets his friend, Brendan in his local pub, it leads to a further encounter with a young lady, Gary being a shy man intent on gaining some romantic involvement with any young lady somehow; this one-off interaction with a stranger who he initially names Satsuma, having not caught her real name (she is reading a book called The Satsuma Complex ) seems promising.

Unfortunately, all is not as it seems and when Brendan goes missing and suspicious looking police officers turn up asking questions, Gary finds himself thrown into a situation for which he is ill-prepared, mild-mannered weakling that he is. Thank goodness for the advice of squirrels to guide him!

Actually, there are no talking squirrels in this book despite misleading comments on covers from reviewers to make you think there are. No, Gary talks to the squirrels that spring up in front of him at regular points during the book but it is Gary's voice which is the voice of the squirrel: he uses them as a sounding board and it is Gary's internal monologue, the voicing of his thought process which provides the conversation from the squirrel. The squirrel is merely a handy furry prop to aid Gary's cognitive digestion. I was glad about this as I think talking squirrels would have made the book bonkers instead of just a little bit daft and would have taken away something from its realism - obviously.

So, do things work out for Gary? Well, that's for you to read to find out but there is lots of goodness and humour in this book, from friendships made to support offered to bad guys brought to justice, that recommend it and Bob fans will be happy.

As a Bob fan, I feel qualified to state this.

Reviewed by

It's not easy to sum up who I am, enough to make me interesting anyway, so what's essential to know? I love to read. I love to review. I love to write and blog at scuffedgranny.com. Short stories and poems are my main writing successes, winning runner-up plaudits on Reedsy Prompts and Vocal.media.

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My Darling Satsuma

The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

January 25, 2024 by jeverett15 Leave a Comment

Bob Mortimer is a UK comedian whose panel-show appearances are legendary. His best work is on the show Would I Lie to You?, where the combination of his quick wit and utterly insane lifestyle make his preposterous tales impossible to assess for veracity. Listening to Mortimer unwind a real corker of a tale is a joy to behold, whether or not he’s telling the truth. Thus I was highly intrigued when I heard he had written a novel.

The Satsuma Complex (published in the U.S. as The Clementine Complex) is narrated by Gary, a thirty-year-old legal assistant working in a fancy London law firm. One night after work he gets dragged out for a drink with an acquaintance named Brendan who works as a private investigator. They have an awkward conversation until Gary’s pal gets an urgent phone call and leaves in a hurry. Remaining at the pub, Gary starts chit-chatting with a woman sitting alone and reading a copy of a book called The Satsuma Complex. When he goes to get drinks at the bar, she disappears, leaving behind the book with a note inside. The next day, disappointed and hung over, Gary is shocked by the appearance of two policemen at his flat. They tell him his friend Brendan is dead and Gary may be the last person to see him alive.

Gary finds himself way out of his depth, trying to find out what happened to his friend and what, if anything, the cute girl he starts calling “Satsuma” in his head had to do with it. Unsure of who to trust, Gary winds up relying on his neighbor, a lonely widow, and her dog Lasso for help. He also starts talking to squirrels. I did say this was a book written by a comedian.

Gary is an unusual protagonist, but is fun to spend time with. He’s fairly bored with his life and his humdrum office job, and therefore tries to find the humor in every situation. He takes special joy in asking absurd, pointless questions and playing little word games with unsuspecting people. Even when he and his friends are in real danger, he can’t resist doing his little bits. In less sure hands, it might dissolve into rank silliness, but Mortimer deftly balances the plot with his unusual main character.

When it comes to Taskmaster contestants turned mystery writers, Mortimer is no Richard Osman, but The Satsuma Complex is a fun, lighthearted read with just enough plot to keep the reader invested.

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The Satsuma Complex Hardcover – January 1, 2022

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Language English
• Publisher Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
• Publication date January 1, 2022
• Dimensions 6.42 x 1.18 x 9.53 inches
• ISBN-10 1398521205
• ISBN-13 978-1398521209
• See all details

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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster UK Ltd (January 1, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1398521205
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1398521209
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.13 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.42 x 1.18 x 9.53 inches
• #280,968 in Literature & Fiction (Books)

About the author

Bob mortimer.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

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The Satsuma Complex

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Table of Contents

• Rave and Reviews

About The Book

About the author.

Bob Mortimer was born in Middlesbrough in 1959, the youngest of four sons. He trained as a solicitor before a chance encounter with Vic Reeves in the 1980s led to a successful career in comedy as half of duo Reeves and Mortimer. His screen credits include Shooting Stars, Big Night Out, Catterick and most recently BBC2's Gone Fishing . His memoir, And Away… , published in 2021. It became the bestselling memoir of the year, was named Times and Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for Non-fiction Book of the Year at the National Book Awards. The Satsuma Complex is his first novel. He's on Twitter and Instagram as @RealBobMortimer.

Product Details

• Publisher: Gallery UK (May 25, 2023)
• Length: 320 pages
• ISBN13: 9781398521230

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• Fiction > General

Raves and Reviews

'The much loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart ... Off the wall doesn’t quite cover it .. . Fans of Mortimer’s surrealist turns on Would I Lie to You? or his internet sketch show Train Guy won’t be disappointed. Nor will crime fiction devotees, if only they can get over the talking squirrels.'

' Funny, clever and sweet – and the "Richard Osman effect" will make it a bestseller ... The good news is that there is a lot of Mortimer’s ridiculousness in all this. Gary loves a regular chat with a squirrel in his playground, and his favourite chat-up lines include, “Have you ever needed to use a tourniquet in your work environment?”'

– Sunday Times

'As in his television work, Mortimer conveys an infectious joy in his own oddity, and, as his recent bestselling memoir And Away… showed, there is a sweetness to his worldview that makes his writing gently poignant. And although I can’t imagine non-fans emerging anything other than baffled, those who are used to his brand of weirdness will find that the book works well as a thriller, too. Like Spike Milligan, the only vintage comic whose fiction is still read, Mortimer has managed to use a novel as a vehicle for his distinctive comedic voice .'

– The Telegraph

' An offbeat romantic thriller, as if Salvador Dali scripted a Hitchcock film... It's as a comic novel that the book is most memorable. It contains the funniest description of somebody having a bath that you're ever likely to read… But there is genuine tension at times, and I came to believe in and care about the central characters. More than just a tour of the wonderfully weird mind of Mortimer , it works - for the most part - as a novel.'

– Daily Express

'I’m delighted to report it’s as hilarious and surreal as you would expect… stuffed with laugh-out-loud moments .'

– Daily Mail

'With Mortimer’s self-mocking wit , plus an audio version read by Sally Phillips, alongside the man himself, what’s not to love?'

– Saga, Book of the Month

'The first novel from comedy legend Bob Mortimer is as funny, idiosyncratic and full of squirrels as you’d expect. It’s also really rather lovely .'

– HEAT, Book of the Month

'Mr Clown Shoes. Lassoo the dog. The corn cob dongle. Just three hilarious elements of The Satsuma Complex – a surprisingly serious debut novel from Would I Lie To You? and Gone Fishing comedy star Bob Mortimer. The stellar success of his surreal and semi-truthful autobiography And Away … caused clamour for a fully fictional follow-up, and Mortimer fulfils the brief with a remarkably dark and gritty tale of sink estate murder, law and order mystery, and honey-trap romance . His distinctive tone and bizarrely British humour sing from every page, with the story swinging from side-splitting set-pieces to moments of real pathos and high drama. It’s a bit unusual, but you’ll love it.'

– Independent

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