Books like The Ha-Ha

I kept waiting for this book to veer into mawkishness, and it is to Dave King's enormous credit that he managed to avoid this particular trap. For a first novel, this is pretty impressive, and I will definitely be on the lookout for further work by this author. Not a perfect book by any means, but a very good one. It has an understated power that creeps up on you. I recommend it highly. I'm deliberately stingy with my five-star ratings, but I did consider it here. Which probably translates to 4.5 stars, truth be told.