My expectations of this book went from high to low on page one. The first two sentences are great:

He should not have done it.
He might have got away with murder once - twice even - but six times was pushing anybody's luck.

Martin Rudrum.

Oh dear.

OK, so Martin's a crossword fan but even so this is a bad sign. Either Sanderson thinks his readers are idiots or he thinks this is funny. The fact that Martin is a cruciverbalist doesn't justify this self-indulgence.

On to the story. Martin is part of the London media world, but at the bottom of the social pecking order. His friends are shallow, image-obsessed snobs. After hosting a dinner party for six of these "friends" Martin decides - understandably - to murder them.

Needless to say the murders don't all go according to plan....

Audacious Perversion is clearly meant as a black comedy. It didn't work for me, largely because Martin himself is so unlikable. He's as much a shallow, image-obsessed snob as his friends. He's just less good at it.

Audacious Perversion is competently written and has some amusing moments. Unfortunately there isn't one likeable character to be found.

Martin's more and less successful attempts at murder are interspersed with flashbacks to his childhood. These are unpleasant enough to make one cringe. Yes, Martin had a grotty childhood - that doesn't make me sympathetic to him as an adult. He's not even very interesting.

Despite Sanderson's assurances I can't shake the feeling that Audacious Perversion is a roman a clef. Even the title of the book shares the same initials as a news agency.

I kept feeling that Sanderson was laughing behind my back at some great in-jokes that would make sense only to a very select group of people.

If you're not part of the London media set you'll probably find Audacious Perversion more annoying than amusing.