Even though some of us -- OK, yours truly -- thought DBC Pierre's debut was a pile of crap, it got enough acclaim to win the Booker Prize and set up gargantuan expectations for book #2. So it came as little surprise that said book, LUDMILLA'S BROKEN ENGLISH, received mixed reviews from the UK press (to put it mildly). And even though Pierre claims the book wasn't difficult to write, was the dreaded sophomore jinx in effect?

The BBC thinks it might well be: "Some critics say that it comes about because, having poured all their effort into their first book, an author often has nothing left to put in the second one. The pressure is intensified if the debut has been particularly well-received - and indeed, Ludmilla's Broken English was given a lukewarm reception on its release earlier this month."

Naturally, Pierre scoffs at such things. Sure, VERNON GOD LITTLE did well, but he comments, "Vernon was a different animal, so I just have to ignore it and move on."