Half-baked attempt results in half a book (Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle)

Member Name: wozbo

Product:	Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle
Date:	22/08/02 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: quick read

Disadvantages: nothing to it, disappointing weak ending

Typical Mike Gayle protagonists are whingeing, whining, late 20s/early 30s, feeble-minded men. Three books in and the character is beginning to grate.

Dinner For Two fails on a number of levels. Firstly, it'll take you about half an hour to read. There are plenty of extremely short chapters (some only a matter of a few words) - but each is given its own page, just to make the book look longer than it really is.

And the words themselves are frustrating. The plot, such that is, revolves around the main character's discovery that he has a teenage daughter, conceived on a drunken holiday. His inexplicable decision to cover this up initially from his current partner forms the basis of his inner turmoil.

What grates most, though, is the conclusion. Without spoiling it, the book ends with the most unsatisfying cop out ever. I really expected Gayle to have dealt with the fall out from the climax a hell of a lot better than he actually does.

I've read all three of Gayle's novels. They say it's three strikes and you're out. It's back to the changing rooms for an early bath for you Mr Gayle...

Summary: