Reviews

Book: ‘Making Money’ by Terry Pratchett (ISBN 978-0-385-61101-5)

Property dealings - Making a mint - Cabbage - V - Collectables - Habby arse Corparse! -Gollups - Cash flows - Splot - Guards, Guards - Solid investments - Clown to the left - Cometh the hour, cometh the Taxman - Jokers to the right.
Loveable scoundrel, Moist von Lipwig returns in a sequel to Going Postal, the hero of a comic narrative on a subject dear to all our hearts. Chocolate, I hear you cry! No, the other one - money. (Unless you’re me, of course!) Doubleday Publishing meanwhile, could quite possibly be accused of insider dealing, hitting the bookshelves just as we entered the run on Northern Rock. It also serves a timely reminder that some postal services are so efficiently organised, the Boss is literally climbing the walls with boredom. (Mr.Lipwig, where are you when the Roundworld needs you!).
Drawing on his immense stock of familiar characters - we’re treated to cameos from both Death and Vimes, always good value - Pratchett also introduces a new family of villains who literally receive their just desserts. Trust me, they really do! However, a large chunk is given over to the deadly dry wit of Lord Vetinari, the Patrician (i.e. tyrant) of Ankh Morpork. Every Discworld fan has their own favourite citizen; Vetinari is growing on me as I follow the series. It’s a part destined for Alan Rickman if ever there was - a cross between Severus Snape and The Sheriff of Nottingham. Can you imagine? Of course you can. Moist is made another offer he can’t refuse, and our golden suited hero is reluctantly left holding the leash of Mr Fusspot, Chairman of the Royal Bank of Ankh Morpork and claiming the title ‘Master of the Mint‘ for himself.
Unusually for Pratchett, as with ‘Going Postal’, so ‘Making Money’ has numbered chapters (and in numerical order too - he so must have been tempted) with a keyword synopsis heading each one instead of a title. Meaningless, naturally, until you work your way through. It’s book 31 of the hugely successful Discworld series - if there weren’t so many, we’d have seen one of them nestling in the Top Five of the BBC’s Big Read countdown not so long ago. They really should hold a vote for favourite author: T. P - top three, undoubtedly.