Frozen Assets, by P G Wodehouse

The opening parts of the book (where we are introduced to the maddening red tape of the French police) are pure Wodehouse genius. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is a plot on auto-pilot. You can almost predict the twists and turns of the storyline and Wodehouse misses many tricks to keep the reader surprised. The ending is also perhaps a little rushed.

Having compared a few books of Wodehouse written at different times, it seems evident that his later books (as is this book published in 1964) are tired. They are plot-driven rather than character-driven. For example, in "Biffen's Millions", Edmond Biffen knows that he will lose a fortune if he is arrested, yet he decides to risk that by drinking. That is not logical, only the plot forces the character to think like that. A better setup might be that Biffen is tricked into imbibing something that makes him drunk. That would have been more believable and been a better use of the plot as well as a proper understanding of the character.

Other titles of the book: [UK] Biffen's Millions

Tags: humor