Breathtakingly good blend of social commentary and satire. I loved this so much! One of my favorite books that I've read this year.

Breathtakingly good social commentary/satire.

One of my top books of 2017!

Hmm..this book had me in a quandary. It gave me moments of greatness and then let me down again. I kept hoping as a I rode a high in the novel that we were really going to take off and head spectacularly together for the high road but it just didn't really get off the ground.

The plot seems really interesting at first - take one street called Dead End Close and examine and announce all the different people that live in this one small street. There is the highlighting of class distinction in the beautiful city of Oxford - those students that live frugally, struggling their way through university and those born into money and prestige, who have family sailing them through university. What happens when the two blend together?

There are what appears at first to be bland, normal character who end up being broken, damaged and beyond repair, Meet criminals, bus drivers, housewives with OCD and anxiety, a teenager who could quite possibly hack into anything anywhere and you have the strange street of Dead End Close. It tackles some difficult life scenarios in this book and I think those were some of it's strongest moments by far. Very well written.

But what of the empty house at the end of the street? Where the man with the clipboard is? His purpose throughout the book and his voice, his narrative sadly didn't become much clearer for me by the ending. He will remain an enigma. Shining through in this book as I said are moments of brilliance, some difficult to read and complex scenes, yet overall it's as thought the book didn't stretch to it's full potential. Somewhat mediocre at times.

I give this one 3 stars, I really don't know what type of reader might enjoy this book, it's not terrible or unreadable but then again it's not a five star shout-from-the rooftops novel either. Shame really.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All review opinions are entirely my own, professional and unbiased.

Excellent book! Great characters and a brilliant storyline. I would highly recommend this book.