FAT, FIFTY & F***ED! - Geoffrey McGeachin

Martin's the sort of bloke that persons of a certain age can identify with.  It might not make you all that comfortable with yourself, but boy can you identify (I hasten to add I have NEVER worn brown suede shoes and if I ever do .... well feel free to shoot me on sight), but I digress.

Martin's having a bad day - his missus is blatantly and spectacularly unfaithful again, his step kids don't even pretend to be bothered with him and the bank he's loyally worked for for years has just closed his branch and retrenched him.  Perhaps they weren't quite expecting the kind of payout that Martin is keen on - and the million-dollar payroll that is due to be handed out to the workers from the closed down meatworks will do very nicely.  Pity he has to hold up the local copper, lock his fellow employees in the tea room and pinch the lot.  Life gets considerably more confusing, and surprisingly easier when he comes across Faith - who is having a few problems of her own with a bikie who has got a bit ahead of himself.  Together they start the roadtrip of a life.

Nobody could accuse FAT, FIFTY & F***ED of taking itself too seriously.  It's pure, wonderful, escapist, silly fun.  There are little vignettes of scenes which are just completely over the top and frequently hilarious.  An impromptu pub party; a dot-com millionaire running a truck-stop; helicopters charging around; hitchhikers who turn out to be multi-millionaire media moguls (with appropriate evil intent of course!); tropical paradise hideouts with multi-level basements full of sinister boy toys.  The only word of warning is possibly if you're about to make the decision on a nursing home for your aged father - you might find FAT, FIFTY just a bit disconcerting.  Although to be honest, if I ever end up in a nursing home I want to be in one run by that bikie gang!

This is the first book by Geoff McGeachin and you can see where some of the elements of the story went forward into the Alby books D-E-D Dead! and Sensitive New Age Spy.  Last week I was looking for something that would entertain me, make me laugh out loud.  FAT, FIFTY & F***ED scratched the itch nicely.