A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

Mark Hadden wrote the very appealing and funny Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, told from the point of view of a boy with autism.  This time he has made a 60ish man going a little crazy laugh-out-loud funny.  George, who keeps losing his grip on reality, in the merriment by his family:  his wife is having an affair with a former colleague of George’s, his daughter is marrying a man with “strangler’s hands,” and his gay son who loves his tidy life more than the people close to him.  It feels like the script of a British screwball comedy and as the pace picks up at the frenetic end, I had to take a rest.  He reports the thinking of each of his characters from inside their heads in a most kindly and funny way, making this a very appealing book.