John McCabe (2) (1967–)

What more is there to life for a Brummie, when he reaches his 29th birthday, is in a boring job and has recently split up with his girlfriend? Ian celebrates by taking the circular bus around the city suburbs, gets off and goes for a drink at a dingy pub and his life changes irrevocably.
McCabe picks apart Ian’s life with stealth, as Ian is coerced into participating in a crime through his gradually revealed fear of the police, his guilt over a lost friend and his profound dislike of his work colleague, Archie (although he attempts to protect him by agreeing to help in the crime).
As his routine and life disintegrate around him, Ian thinks there might be a way out…… (mehr)

This has nothing to do with fish beyond the comparison drawn in the very first line with the main character’s life. It is, however, a highly entertaining look at the ins and outs of Blokedom. The plot, involving a piece of high-tech fraud, is a sort of coat-stand on which to hang the various components of main character Ian’s life – the friends he plays football with, the girlfriend he has recently split up from, the drugs he takes with varying results, the apparently anal colleague that irritates him at work. The writing is sharp and insightful, and innovative without being in-your-face (the elongated sentence describing the nightclub being a case in point). I guessed the twist at the end without too much trouble and expect many other readers will too, but the plot was secondary as far as I was concerned – I really felt as though I learned something about the opposite sex from reading this book, and had many a laugh along the way.… (mehr)