Vijay Mistry
Let me start by saying that I am a massive fan of Danny Wallace's writing. I have read two of his other books (yes man, friends like these, and I find the prose funny and well observed.
This is his first novel, and I did enjoy it. There were some laugh out loud moments that caused me to share my skinny latte with my fellow Southern Railwayites. But as has been mentioned by other reviewers, the protagonist does annoy after a bit, and the plot goes a little wayward in the middle.
An enjoyable comedy about London, and Londoners, but not as good as the non fiction.
I'm always a fool for good descriptions of long journeys and this is an excellent example. It describes a year spent by Paul Theroux travelling by train (mostly) through a post Cultural Revolution China.
Well observed, with a cast of characters that wouldn't be out of place in a novel and told with just a light touch of humor, a very enjoyable piece of writing.
Quite an enjoyable read, although some parts are more stretched than they needed to be, esp near the end its a fast paced, fun thriller.
Most of the story runs along at a hundred miles an hour, flying around the world, throwing loads of ideas at you as it goes. At the end though it just comes to a groaning stop with a really over-long over-detailed shootout, which was a shame. There is also probably one coincidence too many in getting all the key characters to the aforementioned shoot out which again was a shame.
Overall recommended if you can forgive the slight annoyances at the end.