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Final Demand
by: Deborah Moggach

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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780099421931
ISBN: 0099421933
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: May 02, 2002
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
Sales Rank: 277179

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Deborah Moggach's Final Demand is a bleak, uncompromising novel about the greed and selfishness of Natalie, the novel's tough, street-wise heroine. Natalie, who works for "NuLine Communications", a soulless telecommunications company based in Leeds, is frustrated by the realisation that "the next big thing in her life should be happening but thought time was speeding up, the days whisking past, a breathlessness to them now, [her] life remained doggedly the same". She is pretty and intelligent, but when her boyfriend dumps her and she runs into financial problems, she sees the opportunity to turn her boring job processing cheques to her advantage. But first of all, her ingenious plan requires a husband with a very specific name...

Final Demand is very different from Moggach's enormously successful Tulip Fever, but it catches the amoral, cynical world of Natalie and all the characters that she proceeds to dupe in a series of ever bleaker situations. Natalie's crimes seem small, but Moggach attempts to unravel the ways in which even the most trivial crime can have devastating consequences. At times, the story loses focus as Moggach follows those affected by Natalie's misdemeanours, while her heroine is so thoroughly selfish that it become difficult to sympathise with her plight. However, Final Demand neatly captures the soulless sign of the times. --Jerry Brotton

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- petty crime - major, far reaching consequences
Reading the first sentence I wasn't sure I was going to like this, but it turned out to be a real page turner and a thriller.

Set in Leeds and the north-west, Natalie, working in accounts has a plan to extend her income. It involves marriage to a man with a surname beginning with T. That's the start of the plan. Little does she know the consquences and the effect on people's lives, particularly Chloe and her family.

I was quickly hooked and to be honest thought it very believable and utterly logical (except toward the end when I thought it went slightly in the direction of implausability). Natalie managed to hoodwink many and gained.

I thought this was an interesting psychological study as well - how ... Read More:

Rating:

- Intelligent study of the consequences of actions
Easy - but intelligent - reading, will try other novels by this writer. Not a cliched crime novel, not actually a 'crime novel' at all, more of a psychological study/study of the consequences of seemingly random actions.

It clearly illustrates the reality that one person's acts of of petty selfishness or greed can have a huge impact on other people. I disagree with the view that it is 'preachy' but, if it is, perhaps people should listen to its sermon.

I'm not sure this is a hugely memorable book, but it was certainly stimulating and enjoyable at the time, which is a great deal more than can be said for this year's Booker prize winner (in my humble opinion)!

Rating:

- Superb read - and so say all of us!!
I found this book in a secondhand book shop and took it on holiday - I simply could not put it down until I had finished it! The main character of the novel, Natalie, starts to 'scam' money out of her employers with little thought for the 'ripples' her actions cause to the unwitting 'victims' of her scam, including her husband who she only marries to get a name - this book explores these repercussions superbly. I then passed the book on to several members of my reading group, all of whom sang its praises as well. We all feel sure that it would make an excellent TV mini-series.

Rating:

- Gripping
I sat down one Saturday monring and read Final Demand cover to cover in one sitting, pausing only to make a cup of tea. I found it completely gripping.

Natalie is an accounts clerk who wants to escape from her dull life. Having her car stereo stolen one night sparks off a chain of events that she hopes will lead to a brighter, more exciting future. A money-making scam is launched and the story really gathers pace as she plunges headlong into a web of lies and deceit to achieve her goal. The plot in engrossing and I felt like shouting at Natalie to stop.

In the end, she goes too far with tragic consequences far more wide reaching than she could have possibly imagined. This is a rollercoaster of a read.

Rating:

- No interest in the characters
I borrowed this book from a friend; she normally recommends such excellent reads that I agreed to give this one a try as well.

I read this book on an hour-long bus journey. I found myself skipping pages; I was that bored. I didn't engage the central character at all and could have done with far more explanation as to why she made the decisions she did; I just couldn't imagine anyone committing fraud on that scale out of boredom. As for Chloe's death being an eventual consequence of the main character's actions - it felt like the author was sermonising, along the lines of "don't commit fraud, it might have more consequences than you realise". In fact the whole book felt terribly preachy. Her poor, deceived husband; the poor victims ... Read More:

Books : Final Demand