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The Gun Seller | 
 enlarge | Author: Hugh Laurie
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $5.75
You Save: $9.25 (62%)
New (27) Used (28) Collectible (3) from $4.13
Rating:  105 reviews
Sales Rank: 6341
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 067102082X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780671020828
ASIN: 067102082X
Publication Date: October 1, 1998
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Amazon.com
British actor and comedian Hugh Laurie's first book is a spot-on spy spoof about hapless ex-soldier Thomas Lang, who is drawn unwittingly and unwillingly into the center of a dangerous James Bond-like plot of international terrorists, arms dealing, high-tech weapons, and CIA spooks. You may recall having seen Laurie in the English television series Jeeves and Wooster; Laurie played Bertie Wooster, the clutzy hero of the P.G. Wodehouse comic novels that originated those characters. The lineage from Wodehouse's Wooster to Laurie's Lang is clear, and, if you like Wodehouse, you'll probably love The Gun Seller.
Product Description
Hugh Laurie concocts an uproarious cocktail of comic zingers and over-the-top action in this "ripping spoof of the spy genre" (Vanity Fair) -- the irresistible tale of a former Scots Guard-turned-hired gun, a freelance soldier of fortune who also happens to be one heck of a nice guy.Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 100 more reviews...
 Apparently this guy is multi-talented August 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't watch House, but I've seen Hugh Laurie in other work, and apparently he's very talented. Not only can he pull off a genuine American accent, he can write a heck of a crime novel.
The Gun Seller works as a thriller and a comedic novel. It is expertly written, very smart (well researched, with sundry technical details about motorcycles, weaponry and international espionage), and hilarious. A lot of full-time crime writers would do well to read this work.
The protagonist is in many ways a typical crime novel hero -- full of faults, doesn't quite fit in with mainstream culture, has a taste for liquor and the occasional woman, falls for a femme fatale and has at his center an admirable moral code -- but Laurie also gives Thomas Lang a hilariously scabrous interior monologue that will keep you laughing throughout. Also, as is typical in crime novels, Thomas Lang, for all his tongue-in-cheek dialogue, takes doing the right thing very seriously. At times, he is alone in a world filled with corruption, cowardice and greed.
This novel isn't just good because it's surprising that an actor could pull it off. It's excellent work on its own. It's no wonder that Laurie has become such a big success: He's got the chops.
Highly recommended for fans of crime novels, espionage thrillers and irreverent humor.
 Brilliant! July 25, 2008
This book is amazing, I've been a fan of the genre since I was about 8 and raided my grandfather's book collection, I read Eye of the Needle, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Key to Rebecca among others, and Hugh Laurie's narrative in this book has impressed me deeply, he uses language as an expert and for the first time in my life I loved descriptions and narrative in books which was something I normally don't have much interest in as opposed to dialogue, which is also wonderfully done in the Gun Seller. I really hope he has some spare time to finish the sequel.
Although I am one of the ones that discovered his works through House M.D., I say unfortunately because I'm deeply, deeply ashamed of that fact. Simply because my life would have been far better by seeing his other works earlier, Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, etc, not because I don't like the show, which I do.
So I feel that this book should be judged by its own merit, Hugh Laurie even said he wanted to publish it under a pseudonym so that his career wouldn't influence on how the book would be received and I have to say that he should not worry about it, the book is wonderful and excellent and everyone who likes this genre will love this book, he deserves all the merit he can get as a very accomplished writer.
Brilliant July 24, 2008
I had to stop reading "The Gun Seller" around 1am, halfway through it, and believe me, the ONLY thing stopping me from reading to the end was an unfortunate dearth of eyelids propper-uppers, a la "A Clockwork Orange."
It is LITERALLY laugh-out-loud funny. Adam (spousal unit) couldn't concentrate on his computer war game, so often did I punctuate the living room's usual silence with raucous laughter and stifled snorts.
But it is ALSO one helluva spy tale. He wrote it in 1996 and I can't for the life of me figure out why he hasn't written more -- except for maybe that little sideline of his in the thespian arena. Apparently it was immediately optioned as a screenplay; that never went anywhere, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts (WHAT does that phrase MEAN???) he could not only get it made today, but nab the leading role to boot (and what does THAT phrase mean?).
Humorously brilliant June 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's confirmed. Hugh Laurie is both a brilliant actor and a brilliant writer. Fans of spy thrillers and Brit-humor alike will love "The Gun Seller." The book works as both a straight spy/political intrigue story and as a send-up of the genre. Laurie's anti-hero Tom Lang reminds me of the self-deprecating but ultimately "I'll do it if I must" protagonists of Dick Francis' novels. More than a little of George McDonald Fraser's Harry Flashman is detectable too, although Tom is not nearly as self-serving and has quite a few more scruples. The action is fast-paced, and it's easy to see Laurie's familiarity with film and TV - you can almost see the fades and scene changes. However fast-paced, I recommend that you read at least slowly enough to appreciate the witty and sharp prose that tells the story. Laurie's personal penchant for the writings of P. G. Wodehouse is clear in his clever word-play and amusing turns of phrase. I laughed out loud at least three times per chapter, and had to read the book twice to really catch all the little nuances I missed the first time in the excitement of the story-line. I highly recommend this book and only wish I could personally congratulate Hugh Laurie (albeit over ten years late) and beg him to write another.
Yay...House! June 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
He could write the phone book and I would buy it. The story is a spy story...the real value is his word play.
Buy it for that!
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