Tom Sharpe.

In the anarchic, hilarious romps of his early books it was quite possible to burst out laughing uproariously - and few authors have achieved that with me over the years.
True, his later works lost their elan and trundled along in a formulaic fashion but keeping up the high standards set initially was always going to be nigh on impossible.
It was quite clear in his writings that this man was no believer so I just pray that he found the living Jesus in his later years. RIP.