Some novels are a story with a few jokes bolted on. Others are a string of jokes hammered with hope onto a skeleton plot. Good Omens has both plot and characters, and makes the humour integral to the story.

At the centre of the book lie "The Nife and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch", the only book of prophecy which has proven 100% correct about the future. Agnes has predicted the world will end on a Saturday, not this weekend, the next one.

This would alarm Crowley and Aziraphale, a demon and an angel. They've been Hell and Heaven's agents on Earth since 4004 BC. respectively tempting and inspiring humans into action. After six thousand years in their company they've grown to like humans and tolerate each other's company. Unfortunately they have their own problems because the Antichrist is walking the earth, but he seems to have gone missing. The Witchfinder Army is marching to find him.

Meanwhile in Tadfield, a small English country village, a boy named Adam is starting to have some strange ideas about the future.

Good Omens works because Pratchett and Gaiman take commonplace occult, New Age and (because Aziraphale insists angels can't be occult) ethereal ideas and works through how they would work in the real world. Crowley might be an agent of the Beast, Prince of Darkness and Great Adversary, but he has a day off once in a while like anyone else. When gets home he likes to sit back in his exclusive Mayfair pad with all mod-cons. Likewise Aziraphale has picked up human traits and become a collector.

Likewise the prophecies of Agnes Nutter are entirely accurate, but the catch is that they are entirely accurate and if you live in the 17th century then the late 20th century isn't going to make a lot of sense. Her descendents lived off the proceeds of interpreting predictions, because what would you really do if you had an almanac of the future. The current owner Anathema Device wasn't initially bothered that there was no mention of her children. But she's not ten anymore and she's worried.

The anachronisms are funny, but they also drive the plot onward. Ultimately the jokes come together to reveal the conclusion which is though provoking, Or at least it is if you stop to think about it.

There's well over a hundred reviews of the book at Library Thing.

I have run at the Olympic Stadium, but only the original one. Writing about the ancient Olympics is the only way I'll be getting into Sports Illustrated. I thought a while back that I had discovered something original about the ancient Olympics, but after a couple of years trying to track down a few loose ends, it was clear the ends were far too loose to be plausible.