The comedian’s debut novel.

Dorothy Parker once famously said, “You can lead a whore to culture but you can’t make her think.” Which just about sums up Alexei Sayle’s first novel.

Kelvin and his five best friends are thirtysomething, financially solvent culture vultures living in the Northwest of England. Their self-satisfied lives revolve around a constant diet of alternative comedy, theatre and art. But Kelvin’s world collapses when his friends are squashed by a truck on the way to a Frank Skinner show.

The negligent truck driver shows no remorse and when he’s released early from prison on health grounds, Kelvin plans a cunning retribution. He will befriend the oafish trucker and, like Professor Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, refine him with culture in the hope that his new sensibilities will wrack him with guilt.

It’s a slow starter with too many feeble comic set pieces, but when Sayle gets into his stride he’s a master of the dark morality tale. (6/10) Michael Williams 26 September 03

Overtaken by Alexei Sayle is out now, published by Sceptre.