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Happy Now

'I do not believe that a man can be truly happy unless he fully understands what he is and can act accordingly ...how can it be wrong to be happy?' These lines are taken from Will's diary, a seemingly innocuous exercise book which details his house-breaking activities. Will carefully selects houses - forty-seven so far - ensuring their owners will be in. As they cook their supper or watch television, Will (wearing surgical gloves and leaving no trace behind) enters not only their houses, but their secret lives. A secret museum, housed in his loft, is 'held together by sex'. All his trophies are carefully catalogued and he keeps a very precise diary of his activities and his thoughts. All his life Tom Kendall had lived as quietly and normally as possible ...but he gave people the creeps ...'kids didn't like him, or the cat'. When Tom discovers Will's diary he decides to adopt the same quest for happiness. Tom has problems of his own - a difficult temper, problems with his girlfriend, Maddie, and an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Perhaps Will's diary holds the key?

Author Notes


'HAPPY NOW is written with a chilling perception. Settle down on the sofa with this one, but make sure you've locked the back door first' TIME OUT 'This is Iain Banks-ish territory, without the SF, but with the incest and the blood. Higson can build up a tense, nifty plot, and has the kind of ear for middle-England angst that more established writers should be jealous of.' Nicholas Lezard, GQ 'an off-beat, atmospheric novel with an underlying, quite subtle wit... Higson's a genius' MIRROR 'Higson manages to balance the extremely anti-social and mentally unstable characters with a very dark wit, so it's not only the macabre details which make this such compelling reading.' THE LIST 'Funny, fast-moving and very readable.' THE EXAMINER (IRELAND)
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