bellinghman | #299 Robert Rankin: The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code

Robert Rankin: The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Gollancz (10 Jul 2008)
ISBN-10: 0575082275
ISBN-13: 978-0575082274
Category(ies): Humorous SF

And it's another from the man with the strange socks (if you ever meet the man, check out his ankles - he does have a way with his hosiery).

A corpse is floating in the pond in Gunnersbury Park. His head is missing.

One week earlier, 27 year old Jonny Hooker is alive and well, except for certain mental problems that he keeps mostly under control with copious pharmaceuticals. Most of the time, his only problem is his invisible friend Mr Giggles. But then, he gets a flier inviting him to enter the Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code competition, and life starts getting weird. Not to mention, people keep losing their heads.

This is typical Rankin. It's not one of the Brentford Trilogy (a trilogy stretched far beyond most authors' fevered nightmares), but it does take place in a close-by part of London. Much of the tension is how, or even if, our hero avoids ending up soggy and dead, but there are the usual silly jokes and weird facts mixed together. Da-Da-De-Da-Da quickly turns out to be music related, and much is made of the obscure 30th song of the great guitarist Robert Johnson, who died only 27 years old.

If you like Rankin, you probably already have this.