If you are a fan of Bob Mortimer or of the cosy, comfy English comedy in general, The Long Shoe is for you.
Feature image credit: Simon & Schuster
The Long Shoe is the third novel by Bob Mortimer or, for those who watched television in the 1990s, one half of Mortimer and Reeves. More recent viewers may recognise him from his appearances on British panel shows Would I Lie To You and the seminal 8 Out Of 10 Cats. Those who have read his other novels, The Satsuma Complex and The Hotel Avocado, will not be surprised to know that this one’s a bit of a cracker as well.
It starts with Matt, a temporarily unemployed bathroom salesman, arising one morning to find his girlfriend Harriet has left him. Or has she? Thus starts a cascade of events which include Matt moving to the poshest new apartment complex in London, having his cat kidnapped, being drawn into some dastardly deeds, and becoming the custodian of the long shoe of the title.
This brief summary really does not do justice to the hell-bent madcap nature of the plot, the characters or the resolution. People who seem mostly normal cohabit with underworld figures (named ‘Hotdog’) and property moguls. Mortimer uses his standard writing style here, and so we stay very much in the head of Matt … except for when we’re in Harriet’s instead. At first this feels like an excuse for Mortimer to perform some standup for us on the page; Matt’s thoughts about eggs, to take but one example, would not be out of place in a television sketch. But then it becomes clear Mortimer is using the first-person point of view to tease the reader. Without giving too much of the plot away, it puts us in the world of the unreliable narrator. This is done subtly, and to good effect.
The charm of The Long Shoe is not the plot, which is a little thin, but rather the dialogue, either shared or internal. Whether it’s Matt discussing his love life with a neighbour or debating whether to go to a motorcycle event with his cat, the words leap of the page. Yes, they’re often absurd but they’re also real, as though Mortimer has freed his characters from the confines of the ordinary world and is finally letting them speak as he thinks people should: about eggs and puffer jackets and anything else mundane that takes off with a flap of whimsical wings to become a beautiful, unerring flight of fancy.
Highly recommended.
Reviewed by D C White
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Simon & Schuster
Released: October 2025
RRP: $34.99
More News
