A Spot of Bother

Haddon's style is a reader's bliss. He writes seamless prose. The words are melted into meaning... Haddon's gift is to make us look at ourselves when we think we're looking away, being entertained

Tom Adair, Scotsman

This is a masterful novel in which Haddon has surpassed his previous achievement. He pulls off the extraordinary trick of being simultaneously riotously funny, profoundly insightful and deeply poignant... Painted on a small canvas, Haddon has written beautifully about the messiness of life with a poise and grit that few novelists truly possess. Fans of Curious Incident can rest assured that they won't be disappointed

Julie Wheelwright, Scotland on Sunday

An antidote to cynicism.... Haddon floats insights - sculpted, delicate and precise as origami - on currents of offbeat wit... you don't know whether to laugh or cry at the waywardness of the human spirit, you are salved by the compassion and humour of the tale. The delight is in the detail

Jennie Renton, Sunday Herald

Succinct chapters, replete with horror, humour and the minutiae of everyday life

Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

Amusing and brisk and charming

Patrick Ness, Guardian

Wry, warm-hearted and entertaining

Charlotte Moore, Telegraph

It has already been repeat-snubbed by this year's Man Booker judges. They've made a mistake. A Spot of Bother may be a novel about a humdrum family living in Peterborough, told in the third person this time, in deliberately ordinary language. Yet there is more real linguistic artistry, not to mention human empathy, at work, here than in all those poetic prosemongers, the Ondaatjes and the Banvilles... A Spot of Bother is a novel of minor incidents but it tackles big problems

David Sexton, Evening Standard

A delightfully dry comedy

Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday

A painful, funny, humane, novel: beautifully written, addictively readable and so confident

The Times