Archer's Goon

The quality of Diana Wynne Jones’ comic invention is given full expression in Miriam Margolyes’ reading of Archer’s Goon. The Goon, an alarming but strangely amiable creature, arrives unexpectedly in the Sykes household claiming an outstanding payment. But this is no ordinary debt: the 2,000 is not pounds but words, words to be written by Mr Sykes to pay the bills for gas, water, electricity and so forth. As Howard Sykes tries to unravel just who the Goon is, let alone the truth about his boss Archer and the rest, the jokes about the problems of writer’s block are skilfully woven around a biting satire on the vagaries and incompetence of the public service providers (the book was written in 1984). Excellent entertainment from an outstanding storyteller. (3 hrs 30 mins, abridged)