Start with Douglas Adamss comic science fiction (A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) and J.R.R. Tolkiens alternative worlds, mix in James Ellroys gritty realism and Jonathan Swifts unflinching satire and, if youre lucky, youll get something like Terry Pratchetts Thud! Wall Street Journal

City Watch Commander Sam Vimes must solve the murder of a prominent dwarf or watch as Discworld is plunged into a bloody civil war in Terry Pratchetts delightful Discworld satire, a brilliant tale of prejudice, ancient feuds, and tender fatherhood.

Long, long ago, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, trolls and dwarfs met in bloody combat. Centuries later, each side still views the other with simmering animosity that has been heightened of late because of one Grag Hamcrusher. The influential dwarf has been fomenting unrest among a section of Ankh-Morporks citizenrya volatile situation made far worse when the petite provocateur is discovered bashed to death . . . with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

If he doesnt solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. But more than one corpse is waiting for Vimes in the eerie, summoning darkness of a labyrinthine mine network being secretly excavated beneath Ankh-Morporks streets. With war-drums beating ever louder, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin, and brave any darkness to find the solution. And the darkness is following him, pulling him deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fearand perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

Until six oclock every day, when without fail, the Commander goes home to read Wheres My Cow?, with accompanying farmyard noises, to his little boy. Because there are some things you must do.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the 7th book in the City Watch collection and the 34th Discworld book.

The City Watch collection in order:

• Guards! Guards!
• Men at Arms
• Feet of Clay
• Jingo
• The Fifth Elephant
• Night Watch
• Thud!
• Snuff