I had such fun reading this book, but my overall impression is tempered by disappointment at the ending. It felt rushed, and reminded me too much of Scooby Doo (which always requires its villain to spill his/her guts in spectacular and forensic fashion in order to explain all the mysteries to the viewer). Oh, and I guessed part of the whodunit, but it was cleverly plotted so that’s not a negative as far as I’m concerned.

At the beginning of the story the author sets up two mysteries to take care of the suspense element of the plot, and then proceeds to write what is almost a handbook on running a multinational publishing company. I suspect a fan of serious thrillers would find it unsatisfactory, but the thriller element was never the main focus for me. What I liked was the insider’s view of the workings of a glossy magazine. I don’t read them, don’t have much interest in them, but for some reason I found all the detail fascinating. As though conscious of leaving information dumps littered about, the author contrived to intersperse a discussion on pagination and photography with someone getting a blow job. Frankly, the blow job was just a distraction, though as an exercise in crude humour it wasn’t bad. I learned so much from this book. For example I now know what “kill fees” are. And the line about “corporate seagulls” (“every year they fly in, shit all over you , and fly out again”) was an absolute classic. ( )