Jim Howick

This companion book to the British sitcom Ghosts has made me want to rewatch the show (after the finale rather put me off it). It is a collection of letters and other extracts supposedly gathered together from the lives of the ghosts who live at Button House. Due to the nature of these being 'found historical records' certain characters get a lot more focus than others. There will obviously be a lot more physical evidence left from a politician who died in the 90s than from a young woman who show more died in the 18th century. While a caveman will leave no evidence at all, so some of the extracts are Alison's notes in conversation with the ghosts. Overall this imbalance was a little disappointing as certain characters noticeably didn't get much page time, while I grew fairly bored of the Captain's war time letters and commands. He was one of my favourite characters in the show but his war work is dull so reading about it is also fairly dull. The humour (usually through subtext) is mostly at the expense of the characters, which is a little depressing, though it is all very clever and well written. I did find the different handwriting and fonts a bit of a strain to read sometimes. I really enjoyed the book, it was very funny, I just felt a little like it was missing something, which I suppose is because it is a companion piece. It doesn't add any new depth to the characters, except the final entry, an email from Julian (as a ghost). show less