Robert Rankin (1) (1949–)

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse takes place in Toy City, which is inhabited by wealthy nursery rhyme characters, sentient playthings, and a brand new serial killer. The task of finding the latter individual falls to P.I. Bill Winkie; when Winkie disappears, his furry sidekick, Eddie Bear, takes over the investigation and enlists the aid of Jack, a gun-toting 13-year-old seeking his fortune in Toy City. Their subsequent adventures include (to quote the back copy): "a lot of heavy drinking, bad behaviour, fast car chases, gratuitous sex and violence, bizarre toy fetishism and all-around grossness."

And it delivers. In spades.… (mer)

Quirky? Check.
Anthropomorphic toys? You betcha! And drunk to boot.
Murder most foul? Most definitely.
Chocolate? Rabbit shaped.

I really didn't know what to expect with this book, and as soon as I read the first chapter with the cannibalistic farmer with animals named after deadly diseases, I was hooked.

There are many young boys heading to the big city to find their fortune in literature. Very few of them discover that the city is inhabited entirely by toys, however, and stumble across a serial killer's plot to take out Toy City's old rich, the nursery rhyme characters.

Loved it.

Though the book never answered a question I had which was: "Was Humpty Dumpty really an egg?"… (mer)