There are not enough superlatives to sum up how much I enjoyed this audiobook.
The premise is simple, James sends a text to all his phone contacts. He is going to end his life. He takes the night train to Edinburgh and turns his phone to flight mode so nobody can contact him.
He relives his life’s highs and lows during the journey, and the whole story of James’ troubles are gradually revealed to the reader, whilst his contacts scramble around trying to stop his impending death. The characters are so well depicted, their motives, actions and thoughts are so well written, it adds to the depth and drama of James’ situation and his unhappiness.
The reality of his past events, how he got to where he is, and why he feels so lost ring so true. I really enjoyed this on my commute, spending extra time in my car at the end of my journeys in order to hear just. a little more. I was totally immersed in James and his life.
The audiobook is brilliantly narrated. The pace and expression convey depth of feeling.
I give this book ten stars out of five!
Thanks to #NetGalley for the chance to review this book and audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

I just couldn't get into the story of this book. I listened to it and tried to read it. The idea of it was great but for me it just didn't flow - I lost track of the characters and sadly found them hard to relate to.

I received my audio book copy of Mark Watson's Contacts via Netgalley.

Although I have loved Mark Watson the comedian for quite a while I have never read anything written by him. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the author is also the narrator, He does the job very well. His voice is well modulated and he uses a subtle touch to give the characters their own voices.

This is a beautifully written bitter sweet story about loneliness in this world of instant contact and social media, about friendship and basic human kindness. It will make you laugh and it will probably make you shed a tear or two. Overall a great listen.

"James Chiltern boards the 23:50 sleeper train from London to Edinburgh with two pork pies, six beers and a packet of chocolate digestives. At 23:55 he sends a message to all 158 people in his contacts, telling them that he plans to end his life in the morning. He then switches his phone to flight mode. He’s said goodbye. To him, it’s the end of his story – and time to crack open the biscuits."

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this book since it centres around suicide and was afraid it might be too upsetting. However, Mark Watson has done a great job on this and has released a engaging novel with a lovable main character who you are rooting for.

I was very intrigued by the concept of this audiobook - the story of a man planning to take his life written by a comedian. James writes a text message to all his contacts saying goodbye. He presses send then takes a night sleeper to Edinburgh where he will do the deed. The message generates something of a media storm as friends and family reflect on their relationships with James and how they can stop him from reaching his destination. There’s something so intimate about being read to and the voice is key in establishing that intimacy. Mark Watson has the perfect voice for this story - although the book switches between different characters, I felt he embodied the voice of James and how I imagined him - dry, a little literal, with a streak of sharp humour. Mark’s character voices are beautifully subtle, not overdone, conveying a sense of James’ different friends and relatives. The subject matter was treated with a lightness of touch which was at times funny, sad, poignant. I thought that the discussion of depression was beautifully and insightfully conveyed and understood as was the subject of male body image and diet. I loved the way, as the train gathered momentum and the final destination was being approached the tension built. This is a wonderful story with so much to say about life, love and mental health. It made me laugh and cry. With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins Audio U.K. for a copy of this audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC of this book.

I have an enormous amount of good will towards Mark Watson. He is one of my favourite comedians and he has a nervous, vulnerable energy which makes him difficult to criticise. His books always have intelligent concepts and he writes in an understated, observational, wry manner. He brings clear elements of his own personality into his books. For example, this book is about a man who is planning to commit suicide, was written following a period of mental struggle for Watson when he had struggled with alcohol use following the break up of his marriage. It feels very personal, even though the character’s struggles are different to Watson’s own experience. I feel somewhat protective towards Watson, knowing that he has been going through a difficult time and he chose to write about suicide as a result,

The book starts with the lead character, James, texting his entire phone contacts list to tell them he is planning suicide. It then follows several of the people who receive this text and their reactions as they try to find a way to prevent his suicide. It’s an interesting premise, although makes the book harder to get into as each new chapter from a new person’s perspective feels a bit like starting the book afresh.

The book is a study of how important human contacts are, how our actions affect each other, how important it is to stay in contact with each other and how mobile phones and social media, which have the potential to make us more in contact with our loved ones than ever before can somehow have the opposite result.

It is an intelligent look at what might make a person suicidal, how the build up of small things can affect our mental health so that from the outside something which seems trivial may be the tipping point too another person’s mental well-being.

It is not particularly exciting to read and the ending is fairly predictable apart from an event involving a train conductor which I felt was jarring and required more explanation, although I think that’s probably the point of its inclusion. However, if you like Mark Watson’s voice and his frustrated, witty observations you will also like this book. I struggle to say enjoy as it is hard to enjoy a book with suicide as once of its central themes.

The audiobook is read by Mark Watson himself. I think this is probably a mistake, he has a slightly odd way off speaking, so that, even though he wrote the words, it sometimes sounds like he is putting the emphasis on the wrong part of the sentence. He doesn’t really make much of an attempt to do the accents required, so it probably would have been better to get a professional, experienced narrator to read the book. His narration doesn’t impair the enjoyment of the book but I feel a professional may have been able to breathe a bit more life into the narration.

More of a 3.5 stars.

Contacts follows the story of James Chiltern, a middle-aged man who has decided that he will commit suicide in Edingborough, as he sits on the sleeper train to the city he sends out a message to his contacts, telling them what he is about to do but with no indication of where he is, and then puts his phone on aeroplane mode. As friends and family frantically try to get in touch with him James is sitting serenely onboard a train, and the effects of that single message span several countries and lives.

This book is an interesting one, it deals primarily with suicide and so it is a heavy book but Mark Watson (who is also a comedian) manages to infuse this book with some lighthearted moments as well. The book switches POV many times, we hear from James himself, his ex-girlfriend, his mum, his sister, his old best friend, his flatmate. And they all recount memories of their time together and look back on what exactly went wrong, and what exactly this message means to them. They all respond differently to James' message, and not necessarily how they expected themselves to respond. It's impossible not to root for James, lots of things have gone wrong in his life recently and none of them seem to be his fault, I found myself desperate to reach into the pages of the book and give him a hug. I did appreciate Watson's choice to make it not one huge catastrophic event that had made James' make this decision, instead everything that had happened recently just seemed a bit too much, life itself seemed a bit too much, and I think that's something that a worrying proportion of the population can identify with.

I really appreciated how we hopped around the world, it gave us an insight into all these different characters and really allowed us to explore their relationship with James. I think this book did a great job of exploring how much of an impact technology can have on our relationships and the way we interact with one another. And it also showed how easy it is to imagine we have such a small impact on other people's lives that nothing in their life could possibly be our fault. In that regard, this reminded me of the only other book of Watson's I've read, Eleven (which I think I preferred a little more but couldn't say for certain having read it so long ago).

For me this book was a little let down by its ending, even as I was reading I wasn't entirely sure what ending I was wanting. I just found it a little unbelievable and shocking but not in a good way. I do also think that this book could have perhaps been a little shorter, as it was starting to feel somewhat repetitive as we crept towards the end.

But I did think Watson's narration of the audiobook was really enjoyable and I'm keen to pick up something else by him. This was all in all a really interesting read that explored some really complex relationship dynamics. It made me sad, and it made me smile, and I would recommend if it sounds like something you'd enjoy.

Touching and wryly amusing.

James has reached the zenith of what crap he can take. He's lost his girlfriend, sister, best friend, his job and self respect. So he's decided it's the end and sends a message to all his contacts to tell them. As he switches off his phone he realises he's dropped a bomb but he doesn't realise it's a nuclear one thats shockwaves will be felt across continents.

Suicide as the main subject of a novel doesn't sound like a barrel of laughs and let's face it needs to be handled with extreme care. Luckily it's in safe hands with Mark Watson. The story is of a man who has no one and how he got there. James is possibly one of the loveliest characters I've ever read. From start to finish I rooted for him, and got through the last chapters peeping from behind my hands as I really wanted him to change his mind! I may have got too invested but I couldn't help it. The way the story evolved and revealed itself was excellent.

But there was one problem with this audiobook. The narrator. I'm often of the opinion authors should NOT narrate their own books. Even those writers with years of experience just aren't engaging. And Mark Watson is just a bit too terse for this book. He reads how he does stand up. It's great for a comic monologue but for storytelling no. It just needs a softer reader.

In summary a great story that will stay in my mind for a long time.

Love an original idea and this book was certainly that. I also thought all the characters were so brilliantly fallible you just had to like them and I did. That makes the interest easy to sustain. Now for a criticism and it’s one I hate to give but... I didn’t like the reader and I’m so sorry because it was the author and so if anyone should know how it should be read it would be the author but perhaps it’s just each to their own. It was for me.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, unique and clever. I love Mark Watson's writing and comedy. So I should have loved this book, and, in fairness, I did enjoy it. The story was so unusual and such a deep and insightful look at the way technology has changed the way we humans interact with each other. There was lots of fun but also plenty of poignancy. James was a gorgeous and relatable character and I was totally invested in the outcome. However, and this may just be my personal preference. I listen to a lot of books, (25 - 30 a month), so I feel I am speaking from a point of knowledge. I think it was about an hour too long, At 11 hours and 5 minutes it is on the long side and it could do with a bit more of a ruthless edit. I struggled to stay engaged for the entire time and found my mind wandering after about 9 hours. Also, and apologies to Mr Watson, I'm not convinced he's the best narrator for this book. I think it needs someone with a slightly more gentle voice. Again, this is just my opinion and I'm sure the book will do well on Mark Watson's name alone. I only think it could be even better.