Storytelling has always been one of our most powerful tools — a way to reflect, empathise, and better understand the world and ourselves. In Hotel Avocado, Bob Mortimer leans into this power with warmth, wit, and his unmistakably offbeat charm. As the follow-up to The Satsuma Complex, this second instalment continues the story of Gary Thorn: solicitor, reluctant sleuth, and deeply loveable oddball.
At first glance, Hotel Avocado is everything you’d expect from Mortimer — surreal, funny, and full of wonderfully absurd moments. But beneath the eccentric surface lies a tender and surprisingly moving exploration of male vulnerability. Gary’s world is coloured by self-doubt, quiet fears, and the constant push-and-pull between wanting to connect and not quite knowing how. It’s comedy with heart — never heavy-handed, but always emotionally aware.
What Mortimer does so well is use humour as a kind of camouflage. The jokes are brilliant, but they serve a deeper purpose — revealing the insecurities men are often conditioned to hide. Gary’s awkwardness, his hesitations, his strange little tangents: they’re all part of a deeper emotional truth about the complexities of modern masculinity.
Hotel Avocado is witty, whimsical, and unexpectedly profound. It’s a story that balances silliness with sincerity, and satire with soul. More than just a quirky continuation of Gary’s adventures, it’s a novel that quietly asks: what does it really mean to be open, to be flawed, to be seen?
After all, it’s magic!
BEYOND THE WORD 