TMAMWEL is Mister Rankin’s eleventh novel, and the third part of the adventures of Cornelius Murphy and his wee pal Tuppe. Which is a relief, because when The Greatest Show Off Earth did not feature our chums I was afraid that we’d seen the last of them. This time around, however, things are a lot different. While TMAMWEL (which, incredibly, is a nonagram of “Sprouts”) does feature our friends in battle with Hugo Rune, it doesn’t directly continue the story from Raiders of the Lost Car Park. Instead, it takes a completely new turn, and introduces five new major characters. The first of these is Norman, a schoolboy who is killed (though not fatally) in the first chapter. The other four major new characters are all Hugo Rune. The plot begins something like this: Norman dies, and goes to Heaven. There, he gets a job as a filing clerk. After that, things get remarkably complicated very quickly, and the reviewer gives up, realising that the only way to explain the plot would be to reprint the book. Let’s just say that it’s one of Mister Rankin’s most intricate novels. It even surpasses Armageddon: The Musical in that respect. On the whole, I was a tad disappointed. While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I feel that it’s a bit of a let down after The Greatest Show Off Earth. That said, it’s very hard to pin-point where it went wrong. Certainly, Cornelius and Tuppe are as engaging as ever, the running jokes have never been funnier, most of the ideas are brilliant, and Hugo Rune has never been cleverer (he’s even aware that he’s in a novel, and -- typical for Rune -- refuses to share his chapters with other characters), but still the book didn’t quite grab me the way the others have. I’d have to liken TMAMWEL to East of Ealing, another book which should have worked, but, mysteriously, didn’t. The only explanation I can come up with is that maybe it’s all just too complicated, and just too packed with great ideas. Lesser writers would have made a trilogy out of the ideas in this book. Far be it from me to assume my thoughts are meaningful, but I do think that for his next work Mister Rankin should tone things down a little, and give the readers a chance to catch their breath now and then. My God, looking back at the previous paragraphs anyone might think I didn’t like the book, so let me clarify: I loved it. I just didn’t love it as much as some of the others. But then, what do I expect? Robert Rankin can’t give us absolute perfection every single time. After all, he’s only human, isn’t he? No, wait a minute... Nah. Forget I even thought that. Reviewed by Michael Carroll | 
