From Publishers Weekly
Considering the number of writers who've tried, and generally failed, to do plummy Bridget Jones one better, it only makes sense that Fielding should take a vacation from the genre she spawned and seek (sort of) greener pastures. Her new inspiration? Think Ian Fleming. Fielding's ridiculous, delicious, wildly improbable plot goes something like this: freelance journalist Olivia Joules ("as in the unit of kinetic energy"), formerly Rachel Pixley (her whole family got run over when she was 14), gets bumped from the Sunday Times's international coverage down to the style pages thanks to the titular imagination (e.g., a story about a "cloud of giant, fanged locusts pancaking down on Ethiopia"). In between ducking twittering PR reps and airheaded blondes at a Miami face cream launch party, she uncovers what looks like an al-Qaeda plot, headed by a dreamy Osama bin Laden look-alike, who is either (1) a terrorist, (2) an international playboy, (3) a serial killer or (4) all of the above. Languid, mysterious Pierre Feramo returns Olivia's interest, and thus begins an around-the-world adventure that has plucky Olivia eventually recruited by MI6. In addition to the fun spy gear (e.g., Chloé shades fitted with a nerve-agent dagger) there are kidnappings, bomb plots and scuba-diving disasters. Olivia is slim, confident and accomplished; ostensibly, she's "painstakingly erased all womanly urges to question her shape, looks, role in life," etc. But she still has her bumbling Jonesian moments, and though she may not need a man, she'll get one in the end. What's wrong with the book: two-dimensional characters, dangling plot threads, the questionable taste of al-Qaeda bombings in an escapist, comic spy novel. What's right: girl-power punch, page-turning brio and a new heroine to root for. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Critics uniformly admire Fielding’s wit; reviews for Olivia Joules acknowledge that her punch lines uncoil with deft precision and real insight. Some praise her for branching out of the more standard chick-lit genre she helped launch with Bridget Jones to create the kicky, modern spy-girl, Olivia (or, as the Los Angeles Times calls her, “Janey Bond”). No one, however, thinks Olivia Joules’ bin Laden plot line is funny. Several writers complain that mentions of al Qaeda yank the reader out of the story back into reality, almost as if someone had inserted snuff footage into Bambi. The third-person voice distances the reader as well. Fielding can find solace, though, in knowing that most regard this as a misstep and are eager to see what her imagination concocts next.Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

From AudioFile
Olivia Joules wants to be a foreign correspondent for the SUNDAY TIMES, but her overactive imagination gets her demoted to the lifestyle pages. While in Miami covering the launch of a skin cream created by the alluring Pierre Ferramo, she witnesses the destruction of a floating apartment complex at the hands of al Qaeda. Olivia is recruited as a CIA/MI6 agent--with weapons in her underwire bra, a GPS earring, and a pocket survival kit-- to pursue the terrorists. Josephine Bailey creates distinctive voices for loony Olivia, the faux-French Ferramo, and the many other characters. Bailey's witty voice is perfect for the ludicrous moments--of which there are many--but less fitting for the occasional serious ones--for example, when Olivia is rescuing residents from the sinking apartments. Fielding's fault perhaps, but mildly jarring all the same. A.B. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
More than anything, freelance journalist Olivia Joules wants to write serious news stories, but because of her "vivid" imagination, Olivia instead finds herself relegated by her editors to the style section. While in Miami covering the launch of a new face cream, Olivia meets mysterious, sexy Pierre Feramo, the scientist responsible for developing the cream, and once again Olivia's imagination takes over. Is Pierre really a cosmetics-developing, movie-producing international playboy or could he be an al-Qaeda agent in disguise? Olivia, who knows a thing or two about changing one's identity, can't decide if her suspicions about Pierre are correct or merely a product of her fertile imagination. What is even worse is that if Olivia turns out to be right about Pierre, it means she might be falling in love with a terrorist! The author of the phenomenally popular Bridget Jones's Diary (1998) gifts readers with another endearing, irrepressible heroine, who, armed with her lists and survival kit, discovers in this deliciously fun novel that she has a natural talent for spying. Fielding's latest has all the ingredients of a good thriller--exotic locales, a resourceful heroine, intrigue, and a touch of sexy romance--but the book is also electric with Fielding's wry wit, and the combination is simply delightful. John Charles
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Time
Fielding is a wonderful comic novelist.

Nick Hornby
Helen Fielding is one of the funniest writers alive.

The Independent
Recklessly cosmopolitan, jet-setting, worldly, adventurous-a 340 page romp.

The Observer
Very addictive…. Fielding’s comic talent lies in her adorable observations.... This is quintessential Fielding.

The New York Times Book Review
How can a reader not love this woman?

Mademoiselle
Helen Fielding is bloody great.

Book Description
At the close of the last millennium, Helen Fielding debuted the irrepressible (and blockbuster-bestselling) Bridget Jones. Now, Fielding gives us a sensational new heroine for a new era . . . Move over 007, a stunning, sexy-and decidedly female-new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that’s "J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy") and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination. How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo-he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world’s destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules’s overactive imagination? Join Olivia in her heart-stopping, hilarious, nerve-frazzling quest from hip hotel to eco-lodge to underwater cave, by light aircraft, speedboat, helicopter, and horse, in this witty, contemporary, and utterly unputdownable novel deluxe.

Download Description
"Enter Olivia Joules: fearless, dazzling, independent beauty-journalist turned master spy-a new heroine for the twenty-first century from Helen Fielding, the creator of Bridget Jones At the close of the last millennium, Helen Fielding debuted the irrepressible (and blockbuster-bestselling) Bridget Jones. Now, Fielding gives us a sensational new heroine for a new era...Move over 007, a stunning, sexy-and decidedly female-new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that's ""J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy"") and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination. How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo-he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination? Join Olivia in her heart-stopping, hilarious, nerve-frazzling quest from hip hotel to eco-lodge to underwater cave, by light aircraft, speedboat, helicopter, and horse, in this witty, contemporary, and utterly unputdownable novel deluxe."

About the Author
Helen Fielding, a journalist and a novelist, is the author of three previous novels, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Cause Celeb. She also co-wrote the screenplays for the movie of Bridget Jones’s Diary and the forthcoming sequel based on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

Excerpted from Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (Ay Adult - Fielding) by Helen Fielding. Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1 LONDON "The problem with you, Olivia, is that you have an overactive imagination." "I don’t," said Olivia Joules indignantly. Barry Wilkinson, foreign editor of the Sunday Times, leaned back in his chair, trying to hold in his paunch, staring over his half-moon glasses at the disgruntled little figure before him, and thinking: And you’re too damned cute. "What about your story about the cloud of giant, fanged locusts pancaking down on Ethiopia, blotting out the sun?" he said. "It was the Sudan." Barry sighed heavily. "We sent you all the way out there and all you came up with was two grasshoppers in a polythene bag." "But there was a locust cloud. It was just that it had flown off to Chad. They were supposed to be roosting. Anyway, I got you the story about the animals starving in the zoo." "Olivia, it was one warthog—and he looked quite porky to me." "Well, I would have got you an interview with the fundamentalist women and a cross amputee if you hadn’t made me come back." "The birth of Posh and Becks’s new baby you were sent to cover live for BSkyB?" "That wasn’t hard news." "Thank God." "I certainly didn’t imagine anything there." "No. But nor did you say anything for the first ten seconds. You stared around like a simpleton, fiddling with your hair live on air, then suddenly yelled, ‘The baby hasn’t been born yet, but it’s all very exciting. Now back to the studio.’" "That wasn’t my fault. The floor manager didn’t cue me because there was a man trying to get into the shot with ‘I’m a Royal Love Child’ written on his naked paunch." Wearily, Barry leafed through the pile of press releases on his desk. "Listen, lovey ..." Olivia quivered. One of these days she would call him lovey and see how he liked it. "... you’re a good writer, you’re very observant and intuitive and, as I say, extremely imaginative, and we feel on the Sunday Times, in a freelancer, those qualities are better suited to the Style section than the news pages." "You mean the shallow end rather than the deep end?" "There’s nothing shallow about style, baby." Olivia laughed. "I can’t believe you just said that." Barry started laughing as well. "Look," he said, fishing out a press release from a cosmetics company, "if you really want to travel, there’s a celebrity launch in Miami next week for some—perfume?—face cream." "A face-cream launch," said Olivia dully. "J.Lo or P. Binny or somebody ... there we go ... Devorée. Who the fuck is Devorée?" "White rapper slash model slash actress." "Fine. If you can get a magazine to split the costs with us, you can go and cover her face cream for Style. How’s that?" "Okay," said Olivia doubtfully, "but if I find a proper news story out there, can I cover that as well?" "Of course you can, sweetheart," smirked Barry.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Move over, 007: a stunning, sexy - and decidedly female - new player has entered the world of international espionage armed with her own pocket survival kit, her Rules for Living, her infamous overactive imagination, and a very special underwire bra." How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo - he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smoke screen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination?

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Considering the number of writers who've tried, and generally failed, to do plummy Bridget Jones one better, it only makes sense that Fielding should take a vacation from the genre she spawned and seek (sort of) greener pastures. Her new inspiration? Think Ian Fleming. Fielding's ridiculous, delicious, wildly improbable plot goes something like this: freelance journalist Olivia Joules ("as in the unit of kinetic energy"), formerly Rachel Pixley (her whole family got run over when she was 14), gets bumped from the Sunday Times's international coverage down to the style pages thanks to the titular imagination (e.g., a story about a "cloud of giant, fanged locusts pancaking down on Ethiopia"). In between ducking twittering PR reps and airheaded blondes at a Miami face cream launch party, she uncovers what looks like an al-Qaeda plot, headed by a dreamy Osama bin Laden look-alike, who is either (1) a terrorist, (2) an international playboy, (3) a serial killer or (4) all of the above. Languid, mysterious Pierre Feramo returns Olivia's interest, and thus begins an around-the-world adventure that has plucky Olivia eventually recruited by MI6. In addition to the fun spy gear (e.g., Chlo shades fitted with a nerve-agent dagger) there are kidnappings, bomb plots and scuba-diving disasters. Olivia is slim, confident and accomplished; ostensibly, she's "painstakingly erased all womanly urges to question her shape, looks, role in life," etc. But she still has her bumbling Jonesian moments, and though she may not need a man, she'll get one in the end. What's wrong with the book: two-dimensional characters, dangling plot threads, the questionable taste of al-Qaeda bombings in an escapist, comic spy novel. What's right: girl-power punch, page-turning brio and a new heroine to root for. (June 8) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

The Bridget Jones series is entertaining and witty, but this new Fielding novel is disappointing. Olivia Joules (orphaned at age 14) moves to London and works as a writer for an international publication. She goes as a freelance journalist to the United States to cover the unveiling of a new face cream. At a party she meets Pierre Ferramo, an attractive Arabian film producer, who captivates her with his good looks and wealth. However, Olivia starts to connect Pierre to other frightening events going on in the area. She becomes convinced that he is a member of an al-Qaeda group in which Islamic fundamentalists drink, smoke, and womanize to disguise their true hatred toward Western culture. A ridiculous, thin, improbable plot based on world events, this wry thriller, read by Josephine Bailey, was clearly intended to be funny, but there is not much humor in this make-believe spoof. Not recommended.-Carol Stern, Glen Cove P.L., NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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