Book review: Among The Ten Thousand Things

THE most frustrating thing about this debut novel from US writer Julia Pierpont is that it kicks off with a bang.

Julia Pierpont

Oneworld Publications, €22.50; ebook, €16.72

New York artist Jack Shanley is a serial cheat but up until now, his wife Deb has pretended that it’s not happening and has carried on as though nothing is amiss.

However, when one of Jack’s disgruntled mistresses sends her explicit emails, exposing the details of their long affair, the evidence accidentally fall into the hands of the couple’s 11-year-old daughter, Kay, who passes them to her older brother Simon.

Despite this great opener, the rest of the book labours on at a slow, rambling pace with far too much dreary, everyday detail.

Unfortunately, none of the key characters are likeable or interesting enough to make us care what happens to them, making the denouement a damp squib.