Bob Mortimer

THE BRAND-NEW BOOK FOR 2025 BY 2 MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR BOB MORTIMER. Bathroom salesman Matt is at a crossroads. He has lost his job, he is about to be made homeless and his girlfriend has left him. He wants his luck to change and he wants things to go back to how they were. Out of the blue he is offered a job that comes with a free luxury apartment. He hopes this might be enough to tempt her back. But, as events unfold, it starts to dawn on him that perhaps she didn't leave of her own accord after all...​ Praise for Bob 'As a comedian, Bob Mortimer spins a shaggy-dog story like nobody else' The Guardian ‘The much loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart’ – Observer ‘Mortimer’s verbal specificity and off-kilter humour will keep his fans chuckling’ The Times 'There is a sweetness to his worldview that makes his writing gently poignant... Like Spike Milligan, the only vintage comic whose fiction is still read, Mortimer has managed to use a novel as a vehicle for his distinctive comedic voice' The Telegraph

WARNING \- this book includes: heavy crimes, car journeys, dreadfulness, large fruits, romance, planning applications, and a lot of pie. Gary Thorn is struggling with a big decision. Should he stay in London, wallowing in the safety of his legal job in Peckham and eating pies with his next door neighbour, Grace and her dog Lassoo, or should he move to Brighton, where his girlfriend Emily is about to open The Hotel Avocado? Either way, he’d be letting someone down. But sinister forces are gathering in a cloud of launderette scented\-vape smoke, and the arrival of the mysterious Mr Sequence puts Gary in an even worse predicament: soon he might be dead. All Gary wants is a happy life. But he also wants to be alive to enjoy it…

'My name is Gary. I’m a thirty-year-old legal assistant with a firm of solicitors in London. To describe me as anonymous would be unfair but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity. I did make a good connection with a girl, but that blew up in my face and smacked my arse with a fish slice.' Gary Thorn goes for a pint with a work acquaintance called Brendan. When Brendan leaves early, Gary meets a girl in the pub. He doesn’t catch her name, but falls for her anyway. When she suddenly disappears without saying goodbye, all Gary has to remember her by is the book she was reading: The Satsuma Complex. But when Brendan goes missing, Gary needs to track down the girl he now calls Satsuma to get some answers. And so begins Gary’s quest, through the estates and pie shops of South London, to finally bring some love and excitement into his unremarkable life… A page-turning story with a cast of unforgettable characters, The Satsuma Complex is the brilliantly funny first novel by bestselling author and comedian Bob Mortimer.