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The Brain Full of Holes (Martin Chatterton, Little Hare, $14.99 pb, ISBN 9781921272288, April) ***

The Brain Full of Holes by Martin Chatterton is an enjoyable absurdist adventure. Picking up the story after the events of The Brain Finds A Leg, Sheldon and The Brain are now living in Switzerland and some very unswiss oddities are occurring. Holes are disappearing from cheese, bubbles from soft drink and flying cows are marauding through the countryside. Helga, a swiss girl their own age, hires them to find her father. The Brain’s formidable mind is on the search for an explanation for all these odd occurrences. Sheldon’s substantially less formidable mind is on Helga. If you are looking for an adventure full of strange and silly things happening, then this is the place to be. The constant puns add an extra sense of absurdity to the entire book. The exciting elements have a feel similar to the ‘Artemis Fowl’ series, but with the weirdness dial turned all the way to 11. This is not a story about issues or particularly deep characters. The centre of the story is a playful romp and there is nothing that deviates from that.

Chris McDonough is the store buyer for Dymocks Brisbane

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker