Book Review: The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer ★★☆☆☆

Despite vowing not to read sequels of books I love, I'm constantly surprised that regression to the mean is an iron-clad law of the universe. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, so eagerly gobbled up the second. What a burlap fool I am. What was charming and wry in The Satsuma Complex is now overdone and clichéd. The violence, which was an undercurrent in the first book, is now too pronounced and too grim to be funny. Yet the constant tomfoolery with language undermines any built-up tension. The language is gorgeous though. Bob Mortimer has an ability to conjure the most ridiculous similes and metaphors. It's impossible not to be entranced by his panache. The ending is, frankly, a bit unearned and unsatisfying. It feels like a word-count limit was reached and the quickest solution was found.