Product Description

The war on drugs has been lost, but afraid to face that fact, the whole world is rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From the Groucho Club toilets to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime, and this story takes us through the landscape it has created.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18259 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ben Elton's new novel High Society initially appears to be a cautionary tale about Britain today, but its vision of a society totally in thrall to criminality has elements of the visionary novel about it. Happily, the state of the nation is not (yet) quite as awful as it's rendered in this terrifying kaleidoscope. We're taken into a world in which drug use holds total sway, and the whole world essentially functions as a single criminal network. From royalty and the upper crust to drug abusers and prostitutes--right across the social spectrum--we are (in Elton's unsparing universe) plunging into a criminal world.

Elton's cast of characters is massive, but all (notably a government minister who is trying to push through a bill to legalise drugs) are etched in with maximum vividness. Interestingly, although Elton casts a cold eye across the whole of society (including an unforgiving look at the media) the final effect of the book is anything but bleak. All the trademark wit is here, along with a sense of focus that is considerably more sophisticated than anything Elton has tackled before. As a serious satirical novel (yes, there is such a thing), High Society makes an indelible mark. --Barry Forshaw

Review
In this fast-paced tale, Elton successfully interweaves the stories of his characters with an examination of British drug culture from a variety of perspectives. The novel focuses on three key characters: Tommy Hanson, the winner of the national Pop Idol contest and a drink- and drug-addict, Jessie the abused teenage runaway from Scotland who arrives in London only to be dragged into drug-taking and prostitution, and Peter Paget, a Labour MP determined to make all drugs legal. In the background are Sonia, a young English girl who ends up in a Thai jail for drug smuggling, and Commander Leman of the Metropolitan Police, who is fighting corruption in the force and supporting Peter Paget's crusade. This is a persuasive story which through its clever mix of drama and humour makes a series of important political points. In the best traditions of story telling the light comedy allows for relief from the dark moments of horror and despair which many of the characters encounter. The narrative is told by the different characters in turn, involving the reader in each of their predicaments and showing how the chain of events set off affects all those around them. Elton manages to make a convincing argument for the incoherence of British drug policy without sacrificing the integrity of his characters, and the result is an engaging and thought-provoking novel. (Kirkus UK)

A member of Parliament takes on the bugaboo of drug decriminalization. Well-known British comic author Elton has already taken on reality TV (Dead Famous, Feb. 2003), Tarantino-esque filmmakers (Popcorn, 1997), and the perils of pregnancy (Inconceivable, 2000). Now, he takes up the drug trade and attendant criminality, in pretty much all their aspects. His method is to weave together a number of different plotlines dependent upon a light web of coincidence and interrelations (something like the film Traffic), the most central of these involving a heretofore-overlooked Parliament member, Peter Paget, who proposes a sweeping decriminalization bill that's met at first with expected jeers and consternation but gradually gathers some real steam. If only Paget-the picture of two-kids-and-a-wife decency-wasn't shagging his comely assistant. Elsewhere, there's the crusading anticorruption police inspector, the Scottish girl sucked into addiction and prostitution on the streets of London, a drug mule in Bangkok, and, providing most of the needed comic relief, a running monologue given at various recovery meetings by a hugely successful Robbie Williams-esque pop star about his crimes and misadventures as he ingests truly heroic amounts of cocaine and alcohol. Paget provides Elton's thesis: the illegality of drugs mixed with the near-universal taking of drugs makes the entire county criminal: "We are all either criminals ourselves or associates of criminals or relatives of criminals." The first third or so here is rather inspired, mixing Elton's quick-witted banter with a high-minded yet concretely realistic assault on drug hysteria. Elton, however, like his pop star who whines about this fact, will not be breaking the US market with his effort. No matter how cheeky the whole, the last half of the book, in which Paget et al. collapse in a welter of bad decision-making and the ravages of addiction, is not as successful in its pathos as the earlier pages were in their humor. A mixture of comedy with tragedy that fails to produce real black comedy: another decent but desperately uneven effort from Elton. (Kirkus Reviews)

Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'Packed with Elton's trademark sharp wit and biting social commentary... colourful and thought-provoking'

Customer Reviews

Not his best
As an academic exercise this is fine: Elton makes his point persuasively -the war on drugs has been lost and the answer is legalisation and control - and his interweaving of characters and storylines is clever. But as a novel it's not his best by a long way: the 'uplifting' stories are completely unbelievable and the realistic ones just depressing; and the characters are so unsympathetic it's hard to care anyway.

Just read it...
The author covers some of the most taboo issues in today's society by splitting the book into a range of different stories and portraying a massive amount of characters. Elton takes us into the criminal world of drugs abuse. He shows how drugs affect every class and every branch of society - from prostitutes and the homeless up to the upper classes and royalty- and he does it well. Elton shows both sides of the argument between drug legalization and drug addiction.
Even though this book is fiction it makes you wonder about the truth behind it and it helps you get into the minds of hundreds of drug abusers and addicts around the world. This book is aimed at older readers due to its explicit nature and it is not written for the easily offended. This book is gruesome but impossible to put down.

Worth a read...
I was a bit uncomfortable when I started reading this book and thought that I was going to hate it after 20 pages, however the book and subject matter does grow on you.

Having read a number of BE's other novels, the skill with which he weaves a number of characters towards an inevitable conclusion is to be admired, if the result is a little predictable.

In the end I couldn't put the book down as I wanted to know what happened to one of the characters in particular.

The book is BE's take on how the British media has the power to make and then break people. These are subjects which have been close to BE throughout his comedy career, and his distaste for the media and modern politics in general, shines through.