Terry Pratchett's Thud!: A Review

Thud! is the latest Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and is one of several in the series that feature the police force of the city of Ankh-Morpork, the City Watch, with emphasis on their leader, Commander Sam Vimes.

Early on Vimes and the Watch are alerted to the murder of a prominent dwarf; his head was smashed in and a troll's club was found next to the body. The murder leads to a sharp escalation in tensions between the city's dwarf and troll populations.

Vimes does everything he can to keep that situation under control while at the same time directing the investigation of the murder. And all the while he must remember he has a requirement from his wife to be home every day no later than 6:00 PM to read Where's My Cow? to their infant son , complete with appropriate animal noises.

Much as I'd like to I won't get into any more details of this book, to avoid possibly revealing too much. But as he demonstrates repeatedly through out the Discworld novels, and does again in Thud!, Pratchett is a master at analyzing the circumstances and foibles of existence and giving his readers many chances to have a hearty laugh at those circumstances and foibles.