The Fourth Bear
Ratings28
Average rating4.1
The inimitable Jasper Fforde gives readers another delightful mash-up of detective fiction and nursery rhyme, returning to those mean streets where no character is innocent. The Gingerbreadman?sadist, psychopath, cookie?is on the loose in Reading, but that?s not who Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary are after. Instead, they?ve been demoted to searching for missing journalist ?Goldy? Hatchett. The last witnesses to see her alive were the reclusive Three Bears, and right away Spratt senses something furry?uh, funny?about their story, starting with the porridge. The Fourth Bear is a delirious new romp from our most irrepressible fabulist.
Series
Featured Series
2 primary books3 released books#2 in Nursery Crime
Nursery Crime is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2005 with contributions by Jasper Fforde.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books are brilliant. The Nursery Crime books don't quite live up to the Thursday Next ones, but I've still enjoyed them. The Fourth Bear is clever, tongue-in-cheek, and a good read. It can be hard to immerse yourself into the Ffordian world, but once you make it, the (il)logic starts to make sense. And as a book nerd, I love the word play and the literary references.
Just as much fun as The Big Over Easy and requires/rewards just as much attentiveness with the multiple converging plot threads and never-ceasing jokes. I'd love to know what it's like to be in Fforde's head for a few moments.
Racism and immigration laws are the commentary targets for this one, rather than the usual capitalism/bureaucracy, bringing it a little closer to The Constant Rabbit.
My favorite chapters in the book involve the alien Ash, who gets “humanized” as we learn more about his life, family, hopes and dreams and so on.
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