Mark Barrowcliffe has created the perfect anti-hero: a cheating man who faces the ultimate dilemma: two women -- his fiancee and his mistress -- are pregnant at the same time. What will Stewart do? Infidelity for First-Time Fathers is a dark and ironic novel about a man's struggle to do the right thing. However, this novel has missed the mark. The theme isn't the problem -- though I am sure that readers, especially the female ones, might find the plot somewhat problematic -- the problem is that the male protagonist seeks sympathy in the appalling situation. I was expecting a dark, tell-like-it-is tale of an unfaithful man. Instead, I found the aforementioned character childish and whiny. However, all is not lost in the story. Cat Grey, for example, is an original and fresh character. She isn't the stereotypical "other woman," which I find refreshing. Other than that, the novel fails to deliver the dark situations that I had expected. A true disappointment...

Stewart Dagman (Dag), a mid thirties British bloke, is engaged to be married to his live-in girlfriend of ten years, Andrea Ellis. And guess what? She's pregnant. But Dag also has this fresh young "bit on the side," Cat Gray, and guess what? She's pregnant too. So what's a guy to do?

On one hand, I found INFIDELITY FOR FIRST-TIME FATHERS side splittingly funny -- even the thoroughly British parts that a poor American like me didn't get. Dag is being assailed by a fiancee whose desire for the physical is much greater than his own, and Barrowcliffe does a hilarious job of describing the way men in their thirties and forties are continually cruising for women in their twenties. The story is a comic roller-coaster, the reader propelled from one twist to the next. I don't think there's a single potential turn that Barrowcliffe failed to make, except for the one at the end. There he crashed.

Which brings me to the part that isn't funny: The entire plot. It could have been an interesting (and yes, still funny) tale of a guy's attempt to do the right thing, but Dag doesn't hold up his end of the deal. He comes across incredibly selfish and unlikable, which would be fine if he wasn't the lead character, but he is, and three hundred some pages in his whiny company are enough to kill any joke and completely total any "deeper meaning" the story might have fostered. His slapstick conversations with his best friend, Henderson, don't improve matters. Basically the reading experience consists of following an immature guy through a series of incomplete breakups and near misses while he makes sometimes apropos, sometimes totally nutty comments about everything from politics to relationships (what else?) to dealing with your in-laws. And the thugs? The electronic surveillance? The births? Can we strain credulity any further?

When I first read INFIDELITY FOR FIRST-TIME FATHERS, I laughed. I fully admit I laughed. But I'm not laughing now.

This is the author's second novel. Like the first, Girlfriend 44, it is a contemporary comedic novel with plenty of drole asides in the style of Nick Hornby, PG Wodehouse, and columnist-author Dave Barry. Stewart Dagman, a mid-thirtyish management consultant, has to choose between duty to his pregnant fiancee and housemate for the past ten years, Andrea, with whom he shares a comfortable and familiar, if not exciting life, and Cat his exhilarating new paramour, with whom he is falling in love. There are tons of interesting complications, all plotted skilfully --- this is actually a page-turner ---- and throughout there are endless wickedly funny takes on contemporary London life that made the first novel so engaging. I had a little trouble with some of the London slang and place references, but no great distraction. I have to say I enjoyed it thoroughly. Three strangers approached me on a plane trip to ask about the book that was making me laugh to myself like a psychotic. All three were sufficiently interested to look past the somewhat off-putting (for American tastes) title to record the ordering info. I look forward to the next with impatient enthusiasm.

Ah yes, the quest for the perfect woman. I actually bought this book before it hit the states, as reading material for a return flight from London. I could not have picked a better read.

The dry English humor and the authentic British slang constantly remond you that the book is not set in the states -- a refreshing change from similar novels I have read that seem dull in comparison due to that fact that Anywhere, USA is a setting for far to many books.

It's like Bridget Jones from the viewpoint of the opposite sex, with quirky flatmates for added flavor. If you liked Bridget Jones, give this one a try!

I picked this book up while on vacation in Europe and might not have bought it had my husband not been simultaneously browsing through another copy and actually laughing aloud. After the first few pages, however, I was hooked, and laughed so hard over several passages that I nearly choked. I am a high school English teacher, choosy in my vacation material reading, and can only say I cannot remember a book I have enjoyed more. This is indeed "Bridget Jones" from a male perspective, but with a kind of Dickensian twist - Barrowcliff has a habit of digressing from his plot to make bitingly funny, satirical fun of the dating games inherent in the 30-something singles world. One cannot help but sympathize with the narrator, who is saved from utter villainy only by the clarity with which he views his own faults. The ending is surprisingly poignant and a very fine piece of work. For pure pleasure, absolutely excellent reading!

Girlfriend 44 is the sort of book you always look for but can never quite find-the sort that you want to read in one sitting but you can't because it's so good you want it to last forever. You end up reading it at outdoor cafes and laughing out loud, not caring who hears you or what they think, you read it half hanging off of your bed, comfortably slumped as its spell overtakes you, you lope down the street with a goofy grin on your face as though you are in love.

The setting is modern London, the heroes are Lost Boys who live for a pint and the perfect woman, but you don't have to be an Anglophile to appreciate the sarcastic irony of this male confessional.It's a male "Bridget Jones" or a "High Fidelity" without the music. There's even a bit with a dead body. Highest marks for this book.