De’Ath Takes a Holiday (Shaun Micallef, Ultimo)

Best known for his steady stream of diverse television series, comedian Shaun Micallef has shown a similar level of variety in his print work. As an author, he has children’s books, television scripts, article collections and several novels to his name, though for the most part his humour has tended to work best in short bursts. Now with De’Ath Takes a Holiday, Micallef successfully transfers his fast-paced comedy to novel length. The story follows the mysterious Comte De’Ath, who, in an opening section of fake quotes, is referred to as a vampire, making his true nature an open secret from the start. Insurance agent Rodger Bracegirdle investigates De’Ath’s sinister Haitian cotton plantation, with aims to quash De’Ath’s hundred-year-old claim on a group of drowned enslaved people, rumoured to still be under De’Ath’s control (though only by moonlight). This relatively straightforward gothic set-up rapidly escalates in increasingly wild directions as they both return to Europe, where they encounter a long list of 19th-century celebrities, both real and fictional – all in De’Ath’s meandering quest to shrug off immortality and commit bigamy with Rodger’s wife, Windsome. Around this central story, Micallef layers forewords, prefaces, afterwords, extra reading, deleted chapters, newspaper columns, plays and interview transcripts, constantly providing fresh formats for his jokes, references and musings on the meaning of life. The result is a very silly, very funny page turner that doesn’t outstay its welcome but does feature a vampire wereshark that turns into a dog named Peanuts.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anthony Morris is a freelance reviewer, novelist and podcaster. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews