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Gods Behaving Badly
Gods Behaving Badly
Jan 16, 2026 10:16 AM

Author:Marie Phillips

Gods Behaving Badly

Being immortal isn't all it's cracked up to be. Life's hard for a Greek god in the 21st century: nobody believes in you any more, even your own family doesn't respect you, and you're stuck in a delapidated hovel in north London with too many siblings and not enough hot water. But for Artemis (goddess of hunting, professional dog walker), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, telephone sex operator) and Apollo (god of the sun, TV psychic) there's no way out... Until a meek cleaner and her would-be boyfriend come into their lives, and turn the world literally upside down.

Gods Behaving Badly is that rare thing, a charming, funny, utterly original first novel that satisfies the head and the heart.

Reviews

Very, very funny and delightfully original as well as acutely clever in a makes-you-think-about-contemporary-morality-without-realising-it kind of way... this novel will not only make you laugh and give you a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling, it will also provide a good basic grounding in Greek mythology

—— Independent

What makes the novel stand out - and it really does stand out - is its originality and lightness of touch

—— Daily Telegraph

The Olympians are immortal - this we all know. But it has taken Marie Phillips' wit to put them back where they belong - into a decrepit 21st-century London bedsit. It is all very, very funny...this book charms and provokes in a paragraph. I am writing this in Delphi, dangling my feet in Apollo's sacred spring - the water is said to bring the muse. Phillips clearly has a bottle of it on her desk

—— Bettany Hughes , The Times

An absolutely delightful novel

—— Scotland on Sunday

Ingeniously imagined and satisfyingly lusty

—— Guardian

Funny and unpretentious, witty and readable, Gods Behaving Badly lives up to all it's potential

—— Observer

Morrison handles the elements of his novel with impeccable control

—— Stephanie Merritt , Observer

An insidiously gripping tale

—— Country Life

This is a seriously good novel and it deserves to overtake a few more loudly trumpeted false favourites in the popularity and prize stakes

—— The Lady

Gripping...a masterpiece of pacing and revelation

—— Irish Times

A compelling thriller

—— Metro

A terrific thriller, a page-turner of impressive literary skill

—— Sunday Business Post

It is the assuredness of Morrison's portrayal of Ian's descent which makes The Last Weekend compelling - and lifts a familiar...story skilfully above the commonplace

—— Matthew Dennison , The Independent

His truly sensational latest novel, which places him at the forefront of British novelists writing today

—— Sunday Express

Creepy and compelling, but also often extremely funny. Blake Morrison has inhabited the world of a deeply flawed character with unforgettable results

—— Mark Bostridge , Financial Times

Tautly written and tightly structured, this is a novel that explores jealousy, rivalry, deceit and manipulation

—— Mail on Sunday

Warner navigates the comic, the philosophical and the socially acute like no other writer we have

—— Independent

Played refreshingly uncliched games with the device of the unreliable narrator

—— Jonathan Coe , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round up

Blake Morrison's examination of the dark heart of male rivalry makes foe a gripping read

—— Aminatta Forna , Sunday Telegraph, Christmas round up

Pacy and gripping...wonderfully atmospheric

—— Good Book Guide

Morrison's compelling study of male competitiveness offers a discomforting account of the amoral excuses and self-deception of the compulsive gambler: "I don't have a problem. I could stop tomorrow"; "gambling is the basis of our whole economy". You reckon you could put it down at any point - though you'd be kidding yourself

—— Alfred Hickling , Guardian

The Bank Holiday weekend from hell is the subject of Blake Morrison's entertaining new novel - a dark little tale about middle-class rivalry and midsummer meltdown. With an ear attuned to metropolitan pretension - modern parenting skills are sent up with gusto - Morrison succeeds in weaving a murderous melodrama that is grounded in the most recognizable of human impulses and desires

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent

A tense chamber piece about a twisted friendship...the author's skilful choreography of unsympathetic characters and a menacing tone make for a sharply intelligent novel that is both unnerving and enjoyable

—— Financial Times

The Last Weekend isn't really a thriller though its well-paced, tight and gripping narrative has you reaching for the same adjectives that you would use to describe one

—— Paul Dunn , The Times

For those holidaying with old friends…the book tells the chilling story ofa rivalrousfriendship…leaving Alex Clark to conclude that Morrison “keeps the reader constantly intrigued

—— Guardian
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