Adam Kindred, fresh from attending a job interview, goes for a cup of coffee and gets chatting with a stranger who subsequently leaves without taking his papers. Adam manages to find where he lives and arranges to return the lost property. But when he does so, he finds himself caught up in something that results in his being chased for pretty much the rest of the novel.

This had a pretty outrageously page-turning opening chapter: I laughed out loud at how gripped I was, and couldn't stop myself from carrying on reading. Perhaps inevitably, the pace of the first chapter wasn't sustained throughout, but it was nevertheless a cracking read: a 39-steps type adventure mixed with romance, with a sprinkling of comedy. I found it hard to fault this book.

There was some lovely writing too - I liked the description of "the four chimneys of Battersea Power Station (one blurred with a cross-hatching of scaffolding)".

I think it reminded me quite a bit of Jonathan Coe - a sympathetic main character (Adam) struggling to get by and do the right thing in a world peopled with nasty people.

I really liked this book, and look forward to re-reading it.

Completed : 01-Apr-2014