∎ Descargar Free The First Casualty Ben Elton 9780552773362 Books

The First Casualty Ben Elton 9780552773362 Books

Download As PDF : The First Casualty Ben Elton 9780552773362 Books

The First Casualty Ben Elton 9780552773362 Books

English author and entertainer Ben Elton has written many novels, seemingly all on different subjects. In "The First Casualty", Elton takes on the Great War and a man, who doesn't want to fight for intellectual reasons. Douglas Kingsley, a brilliant detective for the London Metropolitan Police, was drafted and filed for conscientious objector status. He claimed that the war was unjust and the killing of hundreds of thousands of lives - on both sides - was immoral. His claim was turned down and he was thrown into Wormwood Scrubs prison. This wouldn't be a place a policeman would want to be - reviled for his status as an objector and for his former job - and Kingsley knew he was a marked man. He is taken out of prison, marked as a dead man, and given a new identity as a military policeman and sent to France and Belgium to investigate the death of a soldier.

Now, by 1917, hundreds of thousands of men have been killed or grievously wounded since the war's beginning in 1914. But this murder of a single officer, in the confines of a rest home for injured soldiers, is different. Captain Viscount Alan Abercrombie was a noted poet-soldier. He was also gay. In the book's beginning he is becoming disillusioned with the war and the death and destruction he lives with daily. His murder, in his bed at the rest home, was attributed to a Bolshevic-leaning soldier, but the truth of the murder and the reasons behind the murder are definitely murkier. And possibly harming to a government entering the third year of a war they were supposed to win by Christmas 1914. Douglas Kingsley, now officially dead, is a new man with a new identity, and he is charged with finding the real murderer.

Ben Elton's view of the war is down and dirty. He shows the heroism of these soldiers, caught in a barely livable hell on the front, and the camaraderie between them. He also writes about split-second fate, between being blown up by a bomb or simply having avoided it by moving out of the immediate area a second or two before the bomb's explosion. Elton's book is an excellent look at the hell of the Great War and those men (and a few women) caught up in it. It is a police procedrual set at war.


Tags : The First Casualty [Ben Elton] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>In Flanders in June 1917, a British officer and celebrated poet is shot dead, killed not by German fire,Ben Elton,The First Casualty,Transworld Publishers,0552771309,Historical - General,Mystery & Detective - General,Detective and mystery stories.,Historical fiction,Mystery fiction,Ypres, 3rd Battle of, Ieper, Belgium, 1917,Ypres, 3rd Battle of, Ieper, Belgium, 1917;Fiction.,Detective and mystery stories,ENGLISH MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Mystery & Detective General,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,FICTION Thrillers General,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction General,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Great BritainBritish Isles,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction,Mystery & Detective - Historical,MysterySuspense

The First Casualty Ben Elton 9780552773362 Books Reviews

Great work by Ben Elton as always. So good that I bought the kindle version despite having the paperback
Intriguing about principals very well written
Fascinating characters facing moral dilemmas with the back drop of World War one. Very vivid images and a good detective story that keeps you coming back for more. Couldn't wait for bedtime so I could get back to the reading!
The First Casualty is simply a great piece of literature.
To invent such a paradox and grotesque like story is simply unbelievable yet still it turned out very well.
Thanks to hat book deprive being 43 and holding a doctorate in law I finally understood the reason why GB got involved in the WWI.. thank you for the explanation!
Loved this book, it is an exceptional rendition of the First World War. One feels like they have followed the soldiers into the trenches. It is frighteningly realistic. Great book
I could not believe how much I enjoyed this. Elton has a gift for dialogue, plotting, and (the thing that matters most to me) characters I care about. As it happens, First Casualty is also a powerful evocation of the First World War ("the war to end wars") and thereby the nobility of some who fight, the rottenness of others, and above all the futility and insanity of war itself. A first class read.
I am an American who loved Dead Famous and also enjoyed Chart Throb. I was a little concerned about how well Elton could tackle more serious, historical subject matter. To my surprise, this is his best novel.

The only author I can think of to compare is T.C. Boyle, which is high praise indeed. Elton makes World War 1 come alive. I felt like I was in the trenches. Nothing else I've read really made me feel the miserable conditions the soldiers endured, or just how gruesome the fighting was.

The characters are well written. Elton is no Boyle, his characters don't have that much depth, but they are relatable and distinct. If I have a quibble, it's that everything ties up a little too neatly in the end. Still an awesome book.

Also, to the reviewer who called Nurse Murray a "nymphomaniac"..I have to ask, would you say the same about the men?
English author and entertainer Ben Elton has written many novels, seemingly all on different subjects. In "The First Casualty", Elton takes on the Great War and a man, who doesn't want to fight for intellectual reasons. Douglas Kingsley, a brilliant detective for the London Metropolitan Police, was drafted and filed for conscientious objector status. He claimed that the war was unjust and the killing of hundreds of thousands of lives - on both sides - was immoral. His claim was turned down and he was thrown into Wormwood Scrubs prison. This wouldn't be a place a policeman would want to be - reviled for his status as an objector and for his former job - and Kingsley knew he was a marked man. He is taken out of prison, marked as a dead man, and given a new identity as a military policeman and sent to France and Belgium to investigate the death of a soldier.

Now, by 1917, hundreds of thousands of men have been killed or grievously wounded since the war's beginning in 1914. But this murder of a single officer, in the confines of a rest home for injured soldiers, is different. Captain Viscount Alan Abercrombie was a noted poet-soldier. He was also gay. In the book's beginning he is becoming disillusioned with the war and the death and destruction he lives with daily. His murder, in his bed at the rest home, was attributed to a Bolshevic-leaning soldier, but the truth of the murder and the reasons behind the murder are definitely murkier. And possibly harming to a government entering the third year of a war they were supposed to win by Christmas 1914. Douglas Kingsley, now officially dead, is a new man with a new identity, and he is charged with finding the real murderer.

Ben Elton's view of the war is down and dirty. He shows the heroism of these soldiers, caught in a barely livable hell on the front, and the camaraderie between them. He also writes about split-second fate, between being blown up by a bomb or simply having avoided it by moving out of the immediate area a second or two before the bomb's explosion. Elton's book is an excellent look at the hell of the Great War and those men (and a few women) caught up in it. It is a police procedrual set at war.