Order of the Golden Sprout The New Robert Rankin Fan Club

The world is changing every day and technology is moving even faster. Except for a London borough known as Brentford. The Year is 2022 and Jim Pooley and John Omally have fallen into the realms of the great myths and legends of yore. Such as the Brentford Griffin of course. So don't expect them to be in this book, because they are not. But just when you think that you can't have a Brentford book without them. Mr Robert Rankin does the spectacular and brings forth a tale of computer madness all bound up in the title Web Site Story.

The Mute Corp have their fingers in many a pie, much like a large computer based company in Seattle thats name slips me for the moment. The world is hooked on their software and becoming more and more hooked as time goes on. But take a short walk across the Kew bridge into the wondrous realm of Brentford that we all know and love. When you enter the High Street you can wend your way along until you get to the offices of The Brentford Mercury. This is a place that is as typical as the rest of the borough. For Brentford is one of those places were change is not accepted readily. Computers sent to The Brentford Mercury still sit boxed up gathering dust never to be used.

And bar a few its the same for everyone in the Brentford Triangle. But computer viruses are strange little buggers, they find a way of getting about. It only takes one person to start it off. The whole cataclysmic end starts slowly and snowballs into a world of hate.

So who is the one who will take on the evil now that Pooley and Omally are no more? Who can fill their shoes? Well no one can, can they?

Kelly is the woman of most men's dreams, dressed as she does in the latest creations and the biggest pair of Prime Minister Dovestons shoes she can find, She's a 12th Level Dimac master who can kick butt better than the best of them and drink red wine and stuff her face full of food and not put on any weight.

And thats as much of the plot as your getting from me. The book contains the usual Rankin running gags we all love. But for some reason, even though he has taken us down the streets of Brentford many times before, this feels different to the other books. Different? The people of Brentford wouldn't stand for that! Well hey neither would I, but remember change is only bad if you don't like it. And the thing about Web Site Story is that its fantastic. You have more twist and turns here than you can shake a very stout stick at. To say I'm excited about this book would be an understatement. This book is quite simply the best Rankin book, and those who know me will know my opinion that Nostradamus Ate My Hamster is Roberts Best Book. Well forget that. Its been blown out of the water by Web Site Story. Is this a new Style of Rankin we are looking at? No I don't think so. I think its the Rankin that we want all the time. If you think I am biased, well maybe I am a little. But I'll Give you one small bit of advice. Don't make the mistake of missing Web Site Story, you may not live long enough to regret it.

Reviewed by David V.Baker