The The Life and Times of Freddie Fuddpucker is the funniest book to be published in New Zealand in a generation.

From cradle to grave, Freddie Fuddpucker is a Kiwi no-hoper, big shot, clown, dreamer and con-man. He can turn his hand to anything, until his ineptitude catches up with him.

Freddie Fuddpucker is a hard-drinking, womanising, lazy rat-bag with a built-in death wish who stumbles from one disaster to another. He is so seriously funny and hopeless that people leave town to avoid him. His mother-in-law avoided him (briefly) by putting up the money to get him out of the country, and out her daughter's life.

You won't put The Fuddpuckers down until it's finished – and then you'll talk about it for years