Book review: Slipping

THIS is the story of a narcissistic man who has suffered a midlife crisis which drove him to kill his wife, Val.

This is not ‘giving away’ the story, as the novel — not a whodunit, more of a why-did-he-do-it? — concerns itself with the psychology of the delusional Albert Jackson and his desire to have a book written about him.

He wants it to be a mixture of fact and fiction, in order to be understood, particularly by his two grown-up children. He wants their empathy but is sane enough to realise that he’ll never elicit sympathy.