This book has all the elements for a superb tale. Lorimer Black, born Milomre Blocj, is a loss adjustor - a profession that puts him somewhere between estate agents and tax men on the scale of social acceptability. One day he goes to meet a client only to find him hanging by the neck from the ceiling.

That bad start to the day leads in to a series of events that upset Lorimer's life. From a family constantly on the scrounge through office politics and deceitful clients to his pursuit of a beautiful, married actress, Lorimer's life is not simple.

The book is ultimately about Lorimer and his taking control of his life and personality. He doesn't start from a very promising position - let's be honest, anyone who collects antique helmets and calls their diary "The Book of Transfiguration" is a grade one pillock.

Whilst unlikeable, Lorimer is an excellent character, one of many in the book. William Boyd is an excellent writer. There are a load of interesting incidents in here.

And that's the trouble. All these fascinating snippets simply fail to gel. Even the suicide at the start of the book is little more than (literally) a body on the first page. I began by loving this book, but by half way through I was getting seriously worried as to when the story was going to start. By the end I was still waiting.

It's a shame that so much potential has to be wasted like this. Perhaps if Boyd had concentrated his undoubted talents on just one or two themes and actually made a story out of them it would have been successful. As it is, I reached the end with a profound feeling of disappointment.