The story behind me acquiring this book is part of the reason I finished it. I arrived at the station late to catch a train to London and realised I hadn't brought a book with me. So I ended up buying two books in Smiths on their slight special offer.
If I hadn't purchased this new at almost full price I doubt I would have persevered with it and finished it. I found it hard to connect with the main character, Matt. That's not surprising because Matt is one of the most disassociated characters I've ever read. If he is disconnected from his world, it's no wonder I was too.
There was one bit at the end of the first chapter that made me chuckle, and that gave me hope for the rest of the book. Unfortunately after that the attempts at surreal humour got in the way of the story, which turned out to be a decent mystery surrounding Matt's missing girlfriend eventually.
The long shoe itself represents Matt's desire to stand out even though he doesn't realise he already stands out due to his innate weirdness, like his regular two-way 'conversations' with his cat.
From the start, Matt really felt like Bob Mortimer relating various events with an emphasis on trivial details. It's one of the few times I've read a book in the voice of the author and that was an initial barrier to getting immersed in the storyline.
However, what really stopped me from getting into the story was the peculiar conversation styles of almost all the main characters. They are very fast to pass perceptive comments on people they have just met and are far too open in their conversations to be believable. They know how they feel about stuff and then say it. I don't mind spoken exposition in books, but it often felt jarring here.
It made an unlikely storyline premise - Matt being invited to move into a fancy apartment in exchange for performing some minor, probably illegal, tasks - even more unbelievable.
However, most of the characters are nicely complex with different takes for some of them on what makes a person wicked. There are some fun minor characters, like the blagger salesman trying to flog the titular long shoe, who add some depth to the story.
About halfway through the book things start happening, the mystery becomes apparent, and the challenge to the reader is trying to solve it. Unexpected suspects crop up and it's quite fun working out what's going on. But it takes a long time to get there and I almost gave up.
One final note, the whimsical endorsements on the back of the book made me laugh.
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