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Screw, God and the Universe
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Poor old Albumen Strunk. Not only does he have a nasty case of dental malpractice hanging over his head, he's also just been killed in a terrible car accident. And what's worse, he then finds his very confused, and supposedly dead self, chucked out of the local pub to be sent marching across a muddy moor toward a meeting that will change his after-life forever.

Soon Albumen is spinning wildly through a heady mix of drinking contests, grumpy celestial beings, strange old men, dwarves, amnesia and a race against time to save existence itself!

Will the universe live to tell the tale? Not bloody likely!

A darkly funny book

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Screw, God and The Universe is a pretty easy read, although it's not for the faint of heart, prudes or the likes of your Auntie Mabel. Unlike most books of the comedy fantasy genre, this book is a whole lot darker than the rest. It's more akin to an adult Itchy and Scratchy for it's comedy, as the characters rend, maim and indulge in varied amounts of sexual activity with each other.

But it's not all sex and gore, there is actually a plot. A nicely convoluted one with lots of twists and unexpected turns. The story follows the tragic life and subsequent afterlife of Albumen Strunk. He discovers that God has gone missing, leaving everything to go to rot. And the Devil (who happens to be going by the name Turpitude Screw - hence the title of the book) decides to end existance and Albumen ends up being the hero of the day and preventing him.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was the ending as it felt rather too abrupt for my liking. The plot sort of just ends leaving things a little confused and then there's a couple of pages of epilogue that just dump the answers in my lap leaving me feeling kind of deflated. But this niggle certainly wouldn't put me off reading the book again or others by the same author.