Review: Death Warmed Up
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2013
This is a wonderfully funny story about Grim Alfonso Reaper , who has been in the business of collecting souls since the days of creation. He has always had a pretty steady life in that respect, but just as people in comfortable careers often become aware of knife-sharpeneers behind them, Grim has to start looking behind his back.He was made aware of the need to do this by Boris, a deceased arthritis-ridden gravedigger. Grim often needs to talk to the Dead you see. It's his job. On this occasion, he  probably wished he hadn't. Boris told Grim that he had dug a grave for him. He wasn't very specific as to why, but he did start Grim on a journey of discovery - to discover who was out to get him. Who was trying to kill death itself.The journey starts when he visits the recently deceased Mr Bones, the ex Boris's ex boss. This is an exceptionally funny passage that shows the extent of Anthony Lund's humour. Mr Bones, having died by way of  chainsaw, literally lies in bits when approached by Grim, who asks, "Which part of you would you like me to speak to"? Priceless. And the conversation gets better. Having ascertained from Mr Bones that the gang out to get him are simply called the Wee, Grim has to grapple really hard with this. "How can it just be the Wee? I may not be fluent in the tongue of Scotland, but I have often heard of the wee one, wee Jimmy and the wee Bastard. so what wee are they?" Humour not dissimilar to Terry Pratchett' Disc World here.The conversational humour in this book is exquisite and you would have to be a pretty miserable reader not to find it 'laugh out loud' funny. I enjoyed it that much that, despite my onerous workload reviewing lots and lots of books, I'm going to read it again very soon. Loved it!