Product Description

The 1980s. Kate Meaney - with her 'Top Secret' notebook and
Mickey her toy monkey - is busy being a junior detective. She observes
goings-on and follows 'suspects' at the newly opened Green Oaks shopping
centre and in her street, where she is friends with the newsagent's son,
Adrian. But when this curious, independent-spirited young girl disappears,
Adrian falls under suspicion and is hounded out of his home by the press.

Then, in 2004, Adrian's sister Lisa - stuck in a going-nowhere relationship
- is working as a deputy manager at Your Music, a cut-price record store.
Every day she tears her hair out at the horribly bizarre behaviour of her
customers and colleagues. But together with security guard Kurt, she
becomes entranced by the little girl they keep glimpsing on the centre's
CCTV. As their after-hours friendship intensifies, they investigate how
these sightings might be connected to the unsettling history of Green Oaks
itself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #219 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-04
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Guardian
'An exceptional, polyphonic novel of urban disaffection, written
with humour and pathos'

Daily Mail
'A superb, haunting novel from a new literary talent'

Jonathan Coe
'Skewers our consumer society in all its absurdity and terrible
sadness. A great debut novel from an awesomely talented writer'

Customer Reviews

of no interest whatsoever
I was very excited about this book, as I heard many good things about it. The first section was really promising, but towards the middle of the book I just didn't care any more - once the other characters were introduced. They kept blurring into one and in the end I just gave up. I am not sure how this novel deserved all these awards!

Minor flaw but so nearly perfect!
Beautiful, clever book. 1980s childhood beginnings very touching and funny. Present tense retail setting is pure hilarity, anyone who has worked in this context will be in stitches. Mad customers and evil managers abound; the disciplinary scene ("BUY IT") and the disabled guy waiting forever for his obsolete order were especially memorable. But the 2003 parts did sometimes touch the implausibility-line, if not cross it. Although the modern characters lack the depth of the 80s ones, some of their back stories are very memorable, especially the security guard and his late wife. And the end-of chapter monologues from anonymous characters were very well done.

The only real criticism of this book is the borderline subcultural intolerance throughout. While it rightly satirises the ridiculous customers and hostile staff, it also disparages various "ethnic" hair/piercing/music tastes etc. Management and deluded customers might be an unfair imposition upon the Lisa character, but people with different tastes to her also come under her scorn. For a book that bemoans blandness, middle-age and the failure of youthful ambitions under harsh reality, Lisa seems to dislike anything beyond the vacuous majority of her existence, then wonders why she's old, boring and living with a t**t. For me, this slightly undermined the other satires. The DCI at the end (in a stunning, clever link between the two eras) is, we are told, a success story, a role model for young girls of ethnic minority. Yet almost on the same page Lisa's friend is planning his (pointless intolerant) world travel to make sure he doesn't end up with dreadlocks or "ethnic" piercings! Little contradictory there, Miss O'Flyn? You lose a star for that!

Unpickupable
I struggled with this one. I found it Borriiiing in the extreme. The plot is too drawn out and didn't give me any motivation to turn the page. I found the characters two-dimensional, cartoonish, dull, predictable. The conclusion was implausible and contrived.

I don't understand why this book is so popular.I couldn't jhave done better myself but this is probably the worst book I have ever read.