Vile Bodies – Evelyn Waugh

I’ve always wanted to read more Waugh, and this is listed in a number of “Best Books Ever” lists, so it seemed an obvious choice.

It’s a funny novel, merciless in its satire of the complacent upper classes. Characters commit suicide, vast amounts of money exchange hands, love affairs fall apart with barely a murmur from “society”. The real kick, though, comes with a bleak and savage denouement that provides a genuine shock.