Bullet Points

Psychologist Peter Kristal has a method for sorting out people's lives. By arranging their histories like the index entries in a biography - --born, 1--achieves various things, 2-x --dies, x+1- the sequences of cause and effect that have led to their particular neuroses is cunningly revealed. His technique gains him a modicum of success: a thriving practise in Chicago (a far cry from his native East Anglia), with a client list comprised of rising stars. But, Pete is constantly aware that his childhood friend, Richard Aloisi, is always one lap ahead of him. Based in New York, Richard is treating A-list celebrities and advising the NYPD on high-profile court cases. Pete would be the first to admit that his inferiority complex is the key bullet point in his life. But by concentrating on Richard as the source of his problems, he is blind to other factors which put both his life and the lives of others at risk. Never as obvious as it purports to be, Bullet Points is a wonderfully witty, pacey, clever novel that keeps you guessing to the very end. Twenty-three-year-old Mark Watson has imagined himself into the head of a middle-aged man with remarkable skill, creating a character whose destructive sense of inadequacy will touch a nerve in anyone who has wanted to be someone else.