If you know Patrick McGuinness personally and are agonising over his Christmas present, steer clear of a Roget's Thesaurus. This is a man who knows a lot of words. But surprisingly, the intellectual vocabulary doesn't grate in this novel - it is unusually natural.
It was the plot, rather than the writing, which I found more difficult. It is very slow moving and lacking in energy. Every now and then there's a suggestion of mystery and intrigue but it never takes off, and my interest petered out fairly quickly. This may of course be because I completely failed to understand what was going on. At one point, after a seemingly inexplicable dialogue, Mr Words McGuinness comments: "If that was a code, it was easy enough to break.". Ha. Maybe if you're in the habit of completing The Times crossword in 3.9 minutes without the aid of a pen.
Basically, this book is excellently written but severely lacking in both plot and compelling characters.
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