Holly is behaving more and more recklessly, and making enemies of people, some of whom aren't all that pleasant. She causes problems at her office, and makes life miserable for her husband and best friend. But she doesn't seem able to stop herself.

This is a bit different from the other NF books I've read in that the main character isn't particularly sympathetic: like many of the other books she's got weird people coming after her, and like many of the other books she's got a dependable best mate who's always there for her, but here she's brought all the misfortune on herself. So it was interesting to read from that point of view.

It was clear from fairly early on that Holly was going to turn out to be suffering from bipolar or schizophrenia - her behaviour to start with was increasingly manic. And really, that was what the book was about: how the illness felt to Holly, what it made her do, and how it progressed. So as well as manic stages there were depressive ones, and there was a fairly believable description of how it felt when she decided to commit suicide: to her it was a rational choice.

The other stuff - about stalkers and gambling debts and getting her company into trouble - was sort of incidental, and I don't think the logic of it bore too much scrutiny: the "twist" in the story was (although you could see it coming) rather hard to swallow, and not fully explained - there were a couple of loose ends.

But the book kept my attention, and so it was a worthwhile read.

Completed : 05-Feb-2009 (audiobook)