Identity Crisis cover art

Identity Crisis

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Identity Crisis

By: Ben Elton
Narrated by: Ben Elton
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Identity Crisis, written and read by Ben Elton.

Why are we all so hostile? So quick to take offence? Truly we are living in the age of outrage.

A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, old-school Detective Mick Matlock into a world of sex, politics, reality TV and a bewildering kaleidoscope of opposing identity groups. Lost in a blizzard of hashtags, his already complex investigation is further impeded by the fact that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ a single thing about anything anymore.

Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgement of Twitter. Begging for forgiveness, assuring the public “that is not who I am”.

But if nobody is who they are anymore - then who the f**k are we?

Ben Elton returns with a blistering satire of the world as it fractures around us. Get ready for a roller-coaster thriller, where nothing - and no one - is off limits.

©2019 Ben Elton (P)2019 Random House Audiobooks Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Witty Funny Thought-Provoking
All stars
Most relevant  
Loved the narration. Story was great but I found it became slightly predictable. Hash tags and an exaggerated take on Politcal Correctness annoyed a bit but successfully aligned me with the main character. Slightly funny and very entertaining.

Good plot and a suspenseful finish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I devoured Ben Elton books when I was younger but hadn't read one in a while. This one didn't disappoint and the author bright the book to life with his own narration.

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ben Elton (both writer and narrator) delivers impeccably on this excellent piece of modern prose. A brilliantly satirical work. 5 angry tweets out of 5.

Witty, dynamic, startlingly relevant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
well BenElton at a more digestible and easier to accept pace. I felt the pain of our intrepid inspector all the way

an Auld acquaintance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great mix of a murder mystery, interconnecting stories and a commentary on my our modern world. I did fair that this would be an ‘old persons’ view of current tends, and just lots of taking the piss. It’s not that, it’s intelligent and well thought out. It would be a good re-listen too. Give it a go.

Amazing, couldn’t put it down.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ben Elton at his best. A very interesting and excellent book. So we’ll written i listened to it twice.

Absolutely brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Ben Elton follows on in the tradition of Tom Sharpe. A rollicking good read with mockery of PC on every page. Dave (who does law and shit)

insanely funny!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you like Ben Elton then you'll love this one. Up there with High Society but maybe not quite as clever. As usual up to the minute satire on identity politics, Brexit, Cambridge Analytica, Russian interference, post truth twitter feeds and gender dysmorphia. All read excellently by Ben Elton himself.

So funny

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing book - probably his best. Accurately sorts and describes today’s world for us of the pre-technological era. Told with the usual mix of irreverent humour and intelligence. Allows us to think for ourselves, with no judgement delivered on topics that we all judge, every day. So ‘now’; so very brilliant. A book that will be studied in the future by people looking to examine the plight of another ‘crossover’ generation. World has changed and the old world gone forever. Language and technique comparable to Thomas Hardy’s portrayal of a ‘new world’ peppered with a (pre-industrial revolution) dying breed of old-fashioned ‘good folk’.

Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
So typically Ben Elton and a wonderful satirical and only slightly exaggerated look at what society could be if the PC brigade take over.

I often listen to audio books when out walking. This book had moments where I spontaneously burst out laughing, must have looked like a crazy person!

Highly recommended.

Satire, only just though!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.