Katie Carr is a GP in north London, David writes a grumpy column, "The Angriest Man in Holloway", for the local rag. They've been married 24 years, have two children and are always rowing. She's begun an affair and wants a divorce. Until David comes back one day having seen a "healer" called GoodNews. It's not just his back that's been cured, his mind has been altered too. David has become a Good Person. He invites GoodNews (who's vegan, natch) to move in, he gives away the children's toys to needier causes, and behaves in relentlessly thoughtful ways. But how does this square with Katie's beliefs about what constitutes goodness, about her own behaviour? Adulterer she may be, but she helps hundreds of patients in her surgery, doesn't she, and grumpiness has its attractions. Hornby's desire to push home the point about middle-class, middle-aged angst and hypocrisy overshadow the novel's initial brilliance, as the story slides into slapstick farce; and the voice of Katie, as narrator, remains unconvincing as a woman. By his own standards, this is a dud. Still, it's zippily readable and a lot better than almost anything else of its kind.