Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (Ace, 1990)

So many people seem to consider this book the Second Coming of the Hitchhiker's Guide that I'm now scared to re-read Douglas Adams, for fear that my great enjoyment of the first three Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books was youthful folly rather than appreciation of great art.

Don't get me wrong, there are laugh-out-loud moments in Good Omens. But they are neither as frequent as they are in Gaiman's American Gods, nor are they couched in as gripping a prose style. The plot is, to be sure, capable of pulling the reader along; Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, are trying to figure out exactly where the Antichrist has got off to so they can start the apocalypse. Except neither (they've become friends over time) is exactly sure they want the apocalypse to start, because they've grown rather fond of Earth.

It's hard to actually pinpoint any problems with Good Omens, except that perhaps it tries too hard every now and again. It just didn't grab hold and refuse to let go in the same way American Gods (or the Hitchhiker's Guide) did. ***