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Chris Elliott

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The Shroud of the Thwacker Paperback – September 13, 2006

by Chris Elliott (Author)

4.1 67 ratings

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In 1882 New York City, police chief Caleb Spencer, Evening Post reporter Liz Smith, and mayor Teddy Roosevelt try to unravel the mystery of the world's most bizarre serial killer, Jack the Jolly Thwacker, embarking on a wild chase through the streets of New York on the trail of a killer whose identity is revealed to modern-day comedian Chris Elliott, who joins the search courtesy of some time travel. Reprint.

Review

"A demented spoof." -- The New York Post

"A rousing good yarn." -- Publishers Weekly

"Relentlessly silly." -- The Washington Post

About the Author

Chris Elliott is an Emmy-award-winning writer, producer, and comedian. He wrote for and performed on SNL, Late Night with David Letterman, and starred in the sitcom Get a Life and the films Cabin Boy and Theres Something About Mary. He recently co-starred in Everybody Loves Raymond. He lives in Connecticut.

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Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Miramax
Publication date

September 13, 2006
Dimensions

5.19 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1401360114
ISBN-13

978-1401360115
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Miramax; First Paperback Edition (September 13, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1401360114
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1401360115
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,592,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,732 in Humorous American Literature
- #2,248 in Parody
- #18,998 in Humorous Fiction

Customer Reviews:
4.1 67 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

67 global ratings

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anonymous

so funny and puts a new spin on weird

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2010

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This book is truly a gem of comedy. I laughed outloud on almost every page. Chris Elliott puts the strangest things together in a story and a sentence, things most people wouldn't think of. I like to re-read at work and laugh outloud and annoy my co-workers. I give this book 10 stars. How can you not love it? I loved Elliott's show "Get a Life", and if you liked that weird humor, you will love his book. Get if for yourself and all your enemies.
Kelly Jameson
Author of Dead On and Shards of Summer and some silly zombie stories

2 people found this helpful

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Tony Davis

Chris Elliot is awesome

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2021

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If you like Chris Elliot like I do, you'll like this fun, irreverent book.

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2013

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Chris Elliott at his finest. If you like his brand of humor, you'll love this book. Victorian detective novel + No research = insanity. Hey Audible, this would be a fantastic audiobook.

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2006

Verified Purchase

I was interested. I was disappointed. The book was very disjointed. The humor was mostly juvenile and the story was strange. Murder was the only way this guy could communicate with himself in the future? It just left me wondering why I wasted my time and money. I did like the Teddy character. That's about all.

3 people found this helpful

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Bee Thousand

Funny....for a few pages

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2009

Chris Elliott writes very much in the style of Dave Barry, which is a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of Dave Barry.

Since both authors are basically making jokes and puns for the sake of making jokes and puns, the humor comes over as being very forced after more than a few pages where the aim is to get as many jokes into as many sentences as possible.

The plot, such as it is, was an interesting framework to base the buffoonery on, and there were some definite funny ideas, such as the NCNYPD - Nineteenth Century NY Police Department - and the wooden oil-fired mobile phones.

A certain, decent percentage of the time, Elliott can make you laugh. Not every joke is telegraphed, and he can be genuinely amusing. But this is a 350 page novel, and the relentless barrage means there will inevitably be misses, and the whole enterprise becomes tiresome way before the end.

Recommended only for Elliott fans or those who love zany, virtually non-stop humor.

One person found this helpful

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Jason A. Yarbrough

AMAZING

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2006

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This could be the most fun you will ever have with a book.

Chris Elliott unfortunately will go down in history as one of the most intelligent comedians of all time and nobody will get it until it's too late.

5 people found this helpful

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Ann Neilsen

Chris Elliot Invites You to Laugh at Him

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2020

I had no idea what to expect when I found this book. I love Chris Elliot, of course, particularly in his more recent role on Schitt's Creek. He has always been a master at creating characters that are worth ridicule. But they are worth this ridicule on purpose. It is a form of self-depricating humor that, if not understood, can rub folks the wrong way.

I, however, love it. And I really liked this book.

This time, the character Mr. Elliot asks you to laugh at is himself. Chris Elliot is writing the book, and he is a character in the book he is writing. He invites you into an alternate universe where he lives next door to Yoko Ono (and hey, maybe he does, but I doubt she comes around his apartment measuring the drapes in hopes that he dies soon so she can expand her place.) It is a world where he is a minor celebrity with... not quite a large ego, more like a larger expeectation of what life should be.

The concept of the story rests on Chris researching into a serial killer from the past (or a serial thwacker, in any case) and becoming involved in his own story. It is out there. It takes a bit to wrap your head around. But once you do, it is hilarious. His minor characters (and let's face it, every character aside from the character of Chris Elliot is a minor character as far as he's concerned) are gloriously bizarre and full of a life of their own. It is no small feat for them to have as much oxygen as they do in this book.

I see some reviews compare this to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is a fair comparison, but does not tell the entire story. Hitchhiker's famously comes off as a stream of conciousness adventure. This is meticulously planned lunacy. Everything comes together, even the things that don't come together (you're going to have to trust me on this).

I laughed out loud many times reading this book, and if you allow yourself to 'get' the style of humor, you will, too.

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Mary Lavers (in Canada)

Hilarious historical satire!

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2012

Sooo funny. One review said he does for historical mystery what Douglas Adams did for science fiction...and I have to agree. I love that he just made up all the historical research (like gas-powered wooden cell phones).

I hope he keeps writing. He's a much funnier writer than he is an actor or comedian.

And I love the ridiculous "19th century sounding descriptive chapter titles!

For more reviews, please visit my blog, CozyLittleBookJournal.

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