---
product_id: 22933459
title: "Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000"
brand: "rupert thomson"
price: "€ 31.20"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 5
category: "Books"
url: https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22933459-soft-paperback-january-25-2000
store_origin: NL
region: Netherlands
---

# Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000

**Brand:** rupert thomson
**Price:** € 31.20
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000 by rupert thomson
- **How much does it cost?** € 31.20 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.nl](https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22933459-soft-paperback-january-25-2000)

## Best For

- rupert thomson enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted rupert thomson brand quality
- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
- 15-day hassle-free returns

## Description

Review
        	  
        	  
        		  
        		  
	        		
						
			        		&quot;A tight, hypnotic story. Imagine Carl Hiaasen&#xA0;and Elmore Leonard teaming up. Imagine Quentin Tarantino and Martin Amis collaborating.&quot;- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times&quot;A stone-cold blast, the kind of twisted thriller that will keep you turning the pages until four in the morning.&quot;-&#xA0; Details&quot;An intense and&#xA0;compulsive thriller. Thomson is a linguistic acrobat... a master of mood and character.&quot;-The Times, London
						    	
					    	
						
						Read more
					
	        	
        	
          
              
        	  	  From the Inside Flap
        	  
        	  
        		  
        		  
	        		
						
			        		&quot;A tight, hypnotic...fast-paced, almost cinematic narrative.&quot;--Michiko Kakutani, &quot;The New York Times Former bouncer Barker Dodds wants nothing more than to flee his violent past for a quaint existence as a barber in London. Waif-like Glade Spencer drifts through life as a waitress at a Soho cafe. And ambitious marketing executive Jimmy Lyle, eager to please his new American boss, devises a revolutionary strategy for introducing a new, orange-colored beverage, Soft!, into an already oversaturated market. In this compulsively readable psychological thriller, these three unlikely souls meet. When leaks start to develop in Lyle&apos;s highly original though, illegal strategy, Barker is paid a visit by a friend from his old life, and is soon is presented with an unthinkable dilemma. And the person with whom he now shares a destiny--unbeknownst to her--is Glade. At turns harrowing and darkly humorous, Soft! is a magnificently surreal story, and a social satire of the highest literary order. &quot;Stimulating and seductive.... A pulp poetic melodrama.&quot;--&quot;San Francisco Chronicle &quot;[A] twisted thriller that will keep you turning the pages until four in the morning.&quot;--&quot;Details
						    	
					    	
						
						Read more
					
	        	
        	
          
              
        	  	  From the Back Cover
        	  
        	  
        		  
        		  
	        		
						
			        		Former bouncer Barker Dodds wants nothing more than to flee his violent past in his native Plymouth for an uncertain new existence as a barber in London&apos;s colorful East End. Waif-like Glade Spencer drifts through life as a waitress at a fashionable Soho restaurant, a devoted daughter to her estranged, caravan-dwelling father, and a long-distance girlfriend to an unpredictable American lawyer. And ambitious soft drink branch manager Jimmy Lyle is eager to please his new American boss with a revolutionary marketing strategy for Soft!, one that promises to make the new orange-colored beverage a soda sensation for the twenty-first century.It is under that effervescent orange glow that these three disparate souls intersect, as each learns &quot;there is nothing soft about the soft drinks industry&quot;. When unsuspecting &quot;Soft! ambassador&quot; Glade begins to unravel from her subconscious obsession with a product she&apos;s never tried, Jimmy&apos;s top-secret campaign threatens to spill into the daily papers, and Barker once again finds himself employed as a thug-for-hire. At turns harrowing and darkly humorous, Soft! is a magnificently surreal story, one that New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani calls &quot;Rupert Thomson&apos;s most powerful novel yet&quot;.
						    	
					    	
						
						Read more
					
	        	
        	
          
              
        	  	  About the Author
        	  
        	  
        		  
        		  
	        		
						
			        		Rupert Thomson is the author of four previous novels, three of which&#x2014;The Five Gates of Hell, Air & Fire, and The Insult&#x2014;are available in Vintage paperback editions.&#xA0; He lives in London.
						    	
					    	
						
						Read more

## Images

![Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000 - Image 1](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51H9xOjyj8L.jpg)
![Soft! Paperback – January 25, 2000 - Image 2](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41xSzbTBU4L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    A smooth, cool read, sprinkled with dark, little gems
  

*by T***S on April 9, 2009*









  
  
    This turned out to live up to the jacket blurbs perfectly.  It really was a hypnotic literary thriller that "pulls you in by the ankes", as one reviewer put it.  Thomson is an intriguing writer with an unusual style that seems both very conventional and avant-garde at the same time.  As he tells his story, he mesmerizes the reader with odd, poetic little descriptions of fairly ordinary things.Soft! tells the tale of a secret, psychological advertising campaign gone awry, but it does not begin that way.  It begins as a gritty bit of contemporary English working class realism, as bouncer Barker Dodds, heads for London for a fresh start.  A strong, tough, laconic guy, he is no stranger to violence, but does not particularly enjoy it.  The story then shifts to an artistic lass named Glade Spencer.  She works as a waitress and carries on a long distance affair with a well-off American named Tom.  She seems a bit adrift, a bit melancholy.  A third major character is then brought into the story - Jimmy, a slick, ambitious, young advertiser.  He works with an American boss - Raleigh Conner, another one of Thomson's polished and opaque characters.  Jimmy hatches a scheme to try to promote a new, orange soft drink named Soft! by using some highly unorthodox and unethical psychological techniques.  These characters eventually find themselves on a collision course.Thomson writes in a cool, detached manner that is nonetheless never boring or lifeless.  His characters speak in short snippets of dialogue that advance the plot, and go about their lives in a kind of mysterious fog.  The story almost seems to be an excuse for Thomson to present his fascinating little observations and details to the reader.  As I read, I often felt that I was watching a hip, artsy European thriller or existential neo-noir, featuring blank-faced actors playing characters whose inner lives would never be revealed to the audience.  There is humor here too, but it is a darkly shaded humor, a little painful.  This was an addictive and unique read.
  


### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Marketing, Passivity, Disaster
  

*by F***B on February 23, 2000*









  
  
    Three unlikely characters interact in this social satire-- Glade, a passive girl with an American boyfriend; Barker, a bouncer who reads medieval history; and Jimmy, an eager young marketeer. A scheme to sell  soda pop via subliminal viral marketing brings these three characters into  contact and eventually conflict with evil American corporate men presiding  like Mephisto over the whole debacle.Thomson is an extremely good  writer. Soft!, unfortunately, was missing something (particularly compared  to his other novels-- Five Gates of Hell or The Insult) and I'm not really  sure what it was. Glade may be a little too passive for us to care about,  or perhaps it's that we get the feeling that he didn't care about the  ending as much as he should, or maybe the satire isn't clear enough and we  really can't take these characters straight. It's still better than most  current novels and certainly not something I regret reading. I don't know--  I'll read it again in a month or two and see if I feel better about it.
  


### ⭐ 







  
  
    If You Like Similes
  

*by S***E on March 11, 2001*









  
  
    Despite the intriguing premise that it is possible to plant subliminal messages in the mind as a means of marketing a new product, I found "Soft" an irritating read. The plot was interesting, and yes, I did finish the book (because I always hate to admit I've wasted money) but as a long-time reader of all genre, I found the novel lacking in character development, believability, and suspense, as well as being technically flawed.Only one of the three main characters, Barker, is really fleshed out. The other two are minimally structured, and therefore difficult to identify with, either pro or con. Consequently, the absurdly rapid deterioration of the victim, Glade, is non-believable.But, the real problem with "Soft" is the author's overuse of the simile. As a writing tool, the simile is indispensable as a way of enlightening a reader. When one is unclear of a reader's recognition of a description or action, the simile provides a clarification. Thomson's first simile appears in the first paragraph where he describes a drop of rain landing on the bridge of Barker's nose and rolling into the corner of his eye "like a tear." Good, but we've just started. Near the end of the book, however, we read this: " . . . there was a movement in the corner of his eye, a slow, blind movement, like some great creature turning in his sleep." Yuk. In between these two examples there are dozens and dozens of similes, some admittedly excellent, some ridiculous, but either way there were just too many "like" and "as if" and "seemingly" additions that I found myself wishing I had started underlining them from the beginning so that I could determine just how many there were! This counting of annoying flaws only serves to diminish the enjoyment of a story. If you need endless clarification of a character's thoughts and actions, you will love this book, but I do not recommend it to anyone who appreciates an author's ability to convey his meaning without hammering it home with countless similes.
  


---

## Why Shop on Desertcart?

- 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016
- 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories
- 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price
- 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members)
- 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection
- ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews

**Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22933459-soft-paperback-january-25-2000](https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22933459-soft-paperback-january-25-2000)

---

*Product available on Desertcart Netherlands*
*Store origin: NL*
*Last updated: 2026-03-15*