The Brentford Triangle

'And the lights upon the allotment,' said Soap, 'what would you take those to be?'
'The work of the council,' said Omally firmly, 'another plot to confound honest golfers.'
Soap burst into a paroxysm of laughter. Tears rolled down his pale cheeks and he clutched at his stomach.
'Come now,' said Pooley, 'it is no laughing matter, these lads have it in for us.'
'Have it in for you?' gasped Soap between convulsions. 'You witness a test run of laser-operated gravitational landing beams, the product of a technology beyond comprehension, and you put it down to the work of Brentford Council?'
'If you will pardon me,' said Pooley, somewhat offended, 'If it is the product of a technology beyond comprehension I hardly feel that I can be blamed for show more finding it so.'
'Quite', said Omalley.

1) The Antipope
2) The Brentford Triangle
3) East of Ealing
4) The Sprouts of Wrath
5) The Brentford Chainstore Massacre

I decided that I should try to fit in some re-reads of old favourites over the next few months, and I started with The Brentford Trilogy since I've got two linked books on my TBR shelf. I liked book 1 of this series, but it was book 2 that got me hooked. On the surface Brentford may appear to be a normal West London suburb, but it's actually a centre of weirdness and a magnet for the uncanny. So it's lucky that the mysterious Professor Slocombe, and local layabouts Pooley and Omalley are ready to tackle evil whenever it rears its head, with the help of the inventive genius Norman Hartnel, hollow-earther Soap Distant and the other regulars of The Flying Swan pub. show less

The Brentford Triangle is a stand-alone entry in to the myriad of novels that Rankin has centered around Brentford. The series hasn't really evolved much. They are still full of running gags, wry humour, clever prose and a multitude of oddball characters. The central characters are no stereotypical heroes, if anything their adventures happen to them, which of course is the lure of Rankin's work. The plot in Triangle is absurd, the action incredulous and it's a short enough read to keep it punchy. It's not as clever as later entries, but it's definitely worth a read, if you've any or none of Rankin's work you'll still enjoy this wacky, but not slapstick book.

A very funny book. Am glad there are more in the series. The humour isn't forced even though it's up there with Terry Pratchett, and the storyline is entertaining enough although nothing ground-breaking. Be interesting to read some of the non-Brentford books just to see if they're as good. Looking forward to the next one anyway. A very funny, quick and easy read.

Along with East of Ealing and The Anti-Pope, this really established Robert Rankin as the side-splitting king of humorous fantasy - and an absolute nutter. Brilliant.

Rankin is about one of my favorite writers at the moment – he’s sort of an occult version of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. As far as I know, you can’t get his stuff in the US, so some of you will have to trust me on this. This is the second book of the Brentford Trilogy (which is now seven books long). Not high lit by any means, but always good fun.