Mr Phillips by John Lanchester
I found Capital infuriating but very much enjoyed The Debt To Pleasure. Unfortunately, this is a lot more like the former than the latter.
For example, there's some classic Sliding Doors geography in a passage describing a Monday morning train journey into central London - his train passes Battersea Power Station then Battersea Dogs' Home, which must mean he is on a train heading *out* of Victoria, so not as likely to be packed with commuters as he describes. He then gets off at the next station, which is not specified but it is implied that it is Battersea Park because he then goes into the park. However, if you're on the bit of line that goes past the Dogs' Home, the next stop is Wandsworth Road...
I wouldn't mind but it reflects a generally lazy approach - this is not a writer who researches but one who relies on his past experience. I could list several other factual inaccuracies that would be easily resolved with a little bit of attention to detail.
I'll stick with it because like Capital it is an easy read and moderately amusing in places, and short enough that it will be over soon enough.
ETA: I just looked up my review of Capital and I seem to have had stronger feelings about it at the time than I remember six years later:
Hated it. Hated the glib, smug writing. Hated the dull, predictable plot. Hated nearly all the characters, none of whom amount to anything more than enumerations of superficial traits and clichéd behaviours. There's a bit late on that sums up why I hated it, when two new characters are introduced simultaneously, their choice of coffee indicating how we're supposed to feel about them (one sympathetic, the other not). The author uses hackneyed cultural reference points like this in place of true insight into his characters' personalities.
To give Lanchester some credit, this is a well researched book. Every aspect of the lives of the characters is covered in a wealth of detail. As a snapshot of London in 2008, it's certainly broad and ambitious in its scope. It's just that for all that detail, the author appears to have nothing interesting to say. It's just boring. And about 200 pages too long.
At least Mr Phillips isn't annoying me quite as much... so far.