Monday, May 20, 2002
Title: Mr. Landen Has No Brain
Author: Stephen Walker
Publisher: Voyager
Mr. Landen has no brain, but he does have a tub of margarine instead. Mr. Landen is just one of the cast of characters in the book that is named after him, and perhaps strangely not even the most prominent of characters. The action takes place in Wyndam-On-Sea, in a local caravan park. The timing is during a competition to see who can have the safest caravan park in the district. What with the unusual number of strange deaths in recent times the local council are concerned about dwindling tourist numbers, so they came up with the competition for the dullest park (with the theory that calling it the "safest" park might have negative inferences).
Unfortunately for Sally Cooper the caravan park she is managing for her uncle is filled with "interesting" characters. Apart from which she also has a track record of being associated with death thanks to her failed career as entertainer's assistant.
Teena Rama is a genius and far too beautiful, and getting more so every day. At least according to her. She is staying in the caravan camp along with her assistant Mr. Landen. Where she has unleashed a giant talking rabbit. As well as applying anti-gravity cream to an intelligent cow.
Clthula Gochlagochgoch is a welsh girl, though her mother is someone she is avoiding, what with the tentacles and all. Her boyfriend is Roddy, he has funny eyes and suckers on his fingers. Her boss is Sally's uncle, who is a machine.
The cast of characters all work along those lines. Every one of them with their own agenda to complicate things. On the whole Mr. Landen Has No Brain is an odd book, one which could probably become silly, though manages to tend towards the absurd to a greater degree. Retaining a certain internal logic, which it benefits from.
RVWR: PTR
May 2002
