The Big Over Easy

It took me years to do it, but I finally finished Jasper Fforde’s The Big Over Easy. However, there is no correlation between my failure as a reader and the quality of the novel.

The Big Over Easy is the first book in the Nursery Crime Division series. Jack Spratt, and his new partner Mary Mary, investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty.

I am a huge Fforde fan, and he has one of the most brilliant imaginations I’ve ever encountered. I am constantly amazed by what he comes up with.

For example, the late Humpty Dumpty was a renowned lover. Imagining a giant egg as a lothario can only bring a smile to my face.

The book is clever from start to finish, with references to nursery rhymes and fairy tales throughout. Rapunzel, the Three Little Pigs, and Rumpelstiltskin are only a few characters who make appearances in the book. Despite the source material, the novel is anything but juvenile.

I’ll admit I was a tidge disappointed by the ending—it felt a bit too Jurassic Park for my taste—and the series isn’t nearly as literary or ambitious as Fforde’s Tuesday Next, but the writing and wit are still absolutely masterful.

As a writer, Jasper Fforde can do little wrong in my book.