The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring is about a man who’s pretty down on life and his job and after work one average tuesday ends up driving 200 miles down the road in something of a fugue state. He manages to happen on a town hosting week long elvis impersonator festivities, fall in love, and get caught up in a bank robbery.

Did everything about this book’s plot work for me? Absolutely not. But the character of George Thring is great
(minus really the author’s insistence on describing the woman in George’s love story in ways we’ve come to consider sexist. the man hadn’t changed underwear in a week yet a beautiful woman instantly falls in love with him, george is described pasty and with a paunch as well while every inch of the woman’s body is perfect etc and I think we’re all over this.) And there’s great humor throughout that has me rating this pretty high.

The tone of "Hitchhiker's Guide' coupled with the idea of "Office Space'...this is a light book that will make you chuckle through the twists and turns.

For George it is a some what painful and also a magical ride to rediscover the true meaning of living helped with a great mixture of characters to help him along on this journey. Not all have the best intentions as he soon discovers with both laugh out loud situations blended with some seriously nasty moments by this well written and extremely enjoyable book by Alastair Puddick. I know I will not be able to look at a Smurf and keep a straight face again. thankyouverymuch
NetGalley and Raven Crest Books supplied this book

George Thring is your typical antihero. He’s stuck in a mindnumbingly boring office job with each day a carbon copy of the last and going home to an empty house. One day, his subconcious takes over and he does not go home but simply drives on...some 200 miles. He finds himself washed up in Lower Chidbury, seemingly a boring little town - his car broken down, his clothes torn and covered in mud. Could this get any worse, I hear you ask?
And what’s with the mass of Elvis lookalikes that seem to populate this place?
You cannot help but like this character and although the plot is visible a mile off, I found myself looking forward to go back to this book and discover what else life would throw at George and whether he would triumph in the end, find love and live happily ever after...

As you can probably guess from the description of this book, this is a very quirky story. Personally, I’m a bit of a quirky person myself, so I tend to enjoy stories that are on the sort of “far out” side, which The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring definitely is.

It’s a clever and unique kind of story. Author Alastair Puddick is a very talented writer. He does something here which I think a lot of writers of humorous stories fail to do: he makes you care about the characters, even when they’re in the middle of ridiculous situations. Humorous novels can sometimes be difficult to read because they often get too silly and then become ludicrous to the point that the plots become very unbelievable and the characters become almost impossible to relate to.

Is this story silly? Yes, absolutely. But it’s not TOO silly. It’s just the right amount of silly. At least it was for me. Your silliness mileage may vary, of course.

I was very entertained by this novel. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I thought it was totally perfect. There were some parts in the book that were a little too repetitive. Also, there were some scenes that went on a little longer than I think they needed to, sometimes to the point that I started to lose interest in what was going on and I then wanted to skip ahead in my reading.

But those kinds of things were very minimal and I happily kept reading. In fact, once I completed the book, I instantly searched for and then purchased the next novel from Alastair Puddick. He has a new fan in me.

If you enjoy quirky and clever stories, I highly recommend The Unexpected Vacation of George Thring to you. It’s a very fun read.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.