The Suburban Book of the Dead - Robert Rankin

The third and final book in the Armageddon - The Musical Trilogy once again sees Rex Mundi battling the forces of evil on Earth alongside the legendary Elvis Aaron Presley.

The story starts with Rex being abducted from his front garden while building a cess-pit for his wife Christine (twin sister of Jesus Christ) and spirited away in the back of a time travelling Volvo. He soon finds himself back on Earth before the Nuclear Holocaust Event that nearly destoyed mankind.

There is also the mysterious question of why Elvis features so prominantly throughout history, even appearing in the Bible itself.

This book neatly ties up any loose ends hanging around from the previous two books and introduces legendry fictional detective Lazlo Woodbine who only works the four locations, as usual.

This book had me laughing throughout thanks to the commonly used running gags and wide ranging number of movie references. Chuck in a blend of magic and fantasy and Rankin takes you through an increasingly bleak vision of the future and to the point of Armageddon.

This is one of Robert Rankin's earlier books and introduces lots of characters who will be revisited many times over. I am a big fan of his work and always look forward to a new novel but I heartily enjoy revisiting the older books and have read this many times over. The story twists and turns as you would expect from this author and all the strands come together for the climactic and apocolyptic, inevitable rooftop ending.

A highly recommended read for all fans of Rankin. If you haven't read any previous Robert Rankin books this may not be the best introduction to his work, however.