do a four-piece jigsaw... but he picks up a sledgehammer like it's a bag of feathers." At the end of the book, when his work is done, he is still living with Adrian's parents, in an apparent ménage à trois. Wayne Wong Wayne is a former school friend of Adrian's, now a proprietor of a Chinese restaurant, where he offers Adrian a discount. As such nearly every social occasion of Adrian's is held at the restaurant. Parvez Another former school friend of Adrian. Parvez is an independent financial adviser, who unfruitfully attempts to persuade Adrian to rein in his spending. Members of the Leicestershire and Rutland Creative Writing Group Ken Blunt Ken is an anti-war, anti-American writer, whom Adrian befriends. Ken is married and believes it to be his duty to write about war, stating 'I can't stand the sort of writing that spends two chapters describing the colour of an Autumn fucking leaf'. Gary Milksop Gary is a feeble character who believes himself to be a talented writer. In reality, Gary has little aptitude to writing and cannot take criticism, hence the rest of the group constantly praise his mundane and lackluster writing. Gladys Fordingbridge Gladys is a pensioner who writes poems solely about cats. Her penchant for writing cat poetry annoys the rest of the group. When she is published, Adrian sees the opportunity to remove her from the group, and tells her she will have to leave the group once she renounces her amateur status. At the end of her diary, a poem of hers is published in the Times, which criticizes the lead up to the Iraq war. References 2004 British novels Fictional diaries Weapons Of Mass Destruction Michael Joseph books