From Amazon.co.uk
Mark Barrowcliffe's second novel,
Infidelity for First-time Fathers, is a warm, witty and worrying insight into the sexual trials and emotional travails of the debutante dad. The hero is Dag, a thirtysomething Londoner. His dilemma, and the dynamic tension of the book, lies in the fact that he has managed to impregnate his long-term fiancée at the same time as landing a dreamy new mistress--a choice that Dag characteristically boils down to a decision between the mumsy, familiar breasts of his partner Andrea ("like a couple of old mates"), and the uppity, pert little pair (her "irreverant, cheeky, staying-out-late tits") possessed by his bit-on-the-side, the sultry Cat. Dag's route to a resolution of this psychosexual conflict, symptomatic of his larger confusion and the confusion of so many men down the ages, leads him into some wacky and farcical waters. A shooting, a beating, a trip to Wembley Park Movotel and lots of oddly-named biscuits: he finds himself in a position he or the reader would never have predicted. The style, as with Barrowcliffe's first book,
Girlfriend 44, is pithy, amusing and mildly cynical. There are plenty of excellent one-liners, some annoying but funny running jokes (those biscuits) and a cast of agreeably eccentric characters. --
Sean Thomas
From Publishers Weekly
Barrowcliffe's follow-up to Girlfriend 44 establishes him as the king of the cheeky, ironic romantic tagline, but his follow-through leaves much to be desired in this labored comedy about a 30-something British fellow who suddenly finds himself with two pregnant girlfriends. Stewart Dag Dagman is the whiny, wisecracking narrator who finds himself facing fatherhood when his long-time, live-in girlfriend, Andrea Ellis, informs him that she's in a family way; he gets a double dose of impending maturity when his younger lover, Cat Grey, delivers a similar pronouncement. Barrowcliffe tracks Dag's half-baked romantic angst through a series of scenes that feature endless sequences of hit-and-miss comic dialogue with Stewart's best friend Henderson, until the would-be father finally 'fesses up about his romantic duality to Grey. That touches off a series of breakup scenes followed by a sequence in which Grey pretends to be an online journalist to meet her counterpart, with Dagman using electronic surveillance equipment to find out how the two women really feel about him. Barrowcliffe jumps through some serious hoops to generate narrative tension, introducing a strange shooting incident as well as a terminal illness involving Andrea's father before he sprints off to the inevitable happy ending as the opportunistic Henderson pursues Grey while Dagman tries to restore his credibility with the two women. But most of the comedy never rises above the sitcom level, and the novel being built around an unlikable protagonist doesn't help matters. Barrowcliffe pens a few funny scenes here and there, but the occasional chuckle can't save this thinly plotted tale from an abundance of unfocused writing that fails to tickle the funny bone.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
