Ten Dead Comedians

A Murder Mystery

By: Fred Van Lente

Narrated by: JD Jackson

Fred Van Lente's brilliant debut is both an homage to the Golden Age of Mystery and a thoroughly contemporary show-business satire. As the story opens, nine comedians of various acclaim are summoned to the island retreat of legendary Hollywood funnyman Dustin Walker. The group includes a former late-night TV host, a washed-up improv instructor, a ridiculously wealthy "blue collar" comic, and a past-her-prime Vegas icon. All nine arrive via boat to find that every building on the island is completely deserted. Marooned without cell phone service or wifi signals, they soon find themselves being murdered one by one. But who is doing the killing, and why?

A darkly clever take on Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and other classics of the genre, Ten Dead Comedians is a marvel of literary ventriloquism, with hilarious comic monologues in the voice of every suspect. It's also an ingeniously plotted puzzler with a twist you'll never see coming!

©2017 Fred Van Lente. (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Clever as Heck.

A fun story, enlivened by a great grasp of comedy history. Though I kept thinking I'd figured it out (some tropes are too old to be forgotten), it ultimately kept me guessing to the end. A working knowledge of Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians' will enhance the experience as well.

Interpretation of a classic

While based on Christie's And Then There Were None, I liked the update. There are parts that are a little crude for sensitive readers. Overall enjoyable. The narration was spot on as well.

Homage to Agatha Christie

This book is an homage to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None."
The book was fun.
It has a lot of profanity in it, so be warned in that regard.
I actually got this book because of the narrator. I followed him over from Colson Whitehead's "The Nickel Boys." He is awesome!

Not dead funny

For a book that is supposed to be about comedians and stand up routines, I didn’t find a lot of the humor very funny. There were definitely some chuckles along the way, but mostly I found a lot of the humor cheesy or not even funny. The storyline itself had some clever ideas but felt unsatisfying in the end.

As for the audio performance, I think it would have benefited from multiple actors. The guy who did it was okay, but again a bit corny or forced at times too. Not authentic.

Overall a very meh experience.