The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 382 pages
• Published by: Viking Penguin August 3, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0670037729
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0670037728
• Book Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 1.2 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
Like The Big Over Easy (2005), Fforde's first Nursery Crime novel, this sequel offers literary allusions, confusions and gentle satire, though, again like its predecessor, it lacks the snap of the author's Thursday Next series (The Eyre Affair, etc.). Jack Spratt, DCI of the Nursery Crime Division of the Reading Police Department, is also a PDR (Person of Dubious Reality), as are most of the characters Jack deals with, including the Gingerbreadman, a notorious killer, and Punch and Judy, a violence prone couple who are also marriage counselors. An alien policeman named Ashley, talking bears, a devoted group of cucumber-growing enthusiasts and an immensely powerful company, Quang Tech, add spice. All are grist for Fforde, whose word play runs the gamut from puns to shaggy dog stories. The Gingerbreadman's on the loose, Goldilocks is missing and Jack's once again persona non grata at headquarters. As Jack and his associates "bring justice to the nursery world," they also cast a Swiftian eye on corporate hubris, race relations, the drug trade and myriad other targets. (Aug.)
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From AudioFile
Jasper Fforde continues his tales of the Nursery Crime unit of the Reading Police Department, where Detectives Jack Spratt and Mary Mary investigate crimes involving fairy tale figures. With his perfectly clipped British accent, Simon Vance does his usual expert performance. In this case, he makes the improbable, unlikely, and downright ridiculous seem perfectly normal. It would be hard to imagine this novel without him. The plot includes the escape of the vicious serial killer the Gingerbreadman and the hunt for the missing gossip columnist, Goldy. Prime suspects are the Three Bears she was once involved with. But was there a fourth bear? Fforde is also known for his bestselling Thursday Next series. M.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Reader Reviews
It's very hard for any author to be funny, and to stay funny for the length of a whole novel... much less for an ongoing series. Fforde achieves it by always having a clear sense of where he's going, even when the plot appears to have as little structure as a Marx Brothers movie or a Monty Python skit. Or, should I say, as little *apparent* structure. The plots may be a little on the strange side -- we're talking here about a storyline based on the search for Goldilocks, which encompasses competitive cucumbers, the secret morals of the Easter Bunny, porridge allotments for bears, and a space alien who talks in binary -- but the characters become real people (or, uh, bears). You care about them, and before you know it, you _really_ want to know who is behind all of the intertwined events. But mostly, Fforde is extremely funny. He never descends into dumbness or predictability, and just when you think he's set you up for one verbal pratfall, he takes the story in a wholly unexpected direction. You *could* read this book without first reading the first in the Nursery Crime series; the story does stand on its own. However, I think you'll enjoy this one more if you read the earlier book first. In either case, though -- this is a marvelous romp. Highly recommended for carbon-based life forms who wish a reason to laugh.