Louise Wener - Goodnight Steve McQueen
reviewed by Fong Chau

Yes, that's right, the most eligible Jewish woman in 1996 has put down her Fender Telecaster and picked up a... biro, we guess. Goodnight Steve McQueen is about a deadbeat muso/part-time video shop worker, or about seven of your close friends and every other two-bit Monarch patron. Steve (Danny to his friends) is your average guitarist in you average Norf London band, until his girlfriend Alison gives him an ultimatum - get a record contact (or proper job) in six months or get a new girlfriend (and flat). So what's a boy to do? Well, he actually gets off his arse and does something, which given that he's a musician is the most unrealistic thing about the novel.

The book itself is a nice easy tube read and endearing in parts; after all, Louise Wener is responsible for penning the words: 'Summer '92, I remember it clearly/When he choked on the olive in his dry Martini... I know it sounds funny/but it wasn't supposed to'. But it's awfully clichéd in parts too; you have Kostas the two-dimensional Greek, Matty the dim drummer and, just to mix it up a bit, Sheila the eighty year-old Kung-fu enthusiast. Come on, we all remember the characters from 'Inbetweener' and know you can do better than that, Wener.