I can't believe some of you reviewers. So pompous and high-brow! This is black comedy PULP fiction, it's not Shakespeare! Reading it in one sitting I would equate it to a one-minute rollercoaster ride of terror and fun. Or perhaps "The Life of Brian" derailed for the MyTube generation. I agree that it is not Ben Elton's best, but it is extremely funny. Sadly funny in places. The characters are meant to be detestable, disgusting, uninteresting. We are not meant to care about them at all. We are meant to care about the fact that they are all so blind and whether Trafford, the hero who we should care a little about, can succeed in his mission. Even the torture scenes had me laughing, although gloryifyingly graphic (Pulp Fiction style) and made me feel both hateful towards and pitiful of the blind faithful mob screaming "Oh Yeah!" as the blood flowed. People seem to have forgotten that the only 'entertainment' for the masses in medieval Europe was exactly this type of thing - the Church Elders burning heretics and witches. I think this is a highly visual book, and perhaps Mr Elton would have done better writing it as a film script as he would then more likely have reached the heaving, sweating mass of flesh that it satires - the dumbed-down mob who will likely never read it anyway. They would at least go see the film, but would they get the message...? Someone said this is like the dumbed-down sequel to Dawkin's "The God Delusion" and I could not agree more. They should be read one after the other to get the full impact!