While this book is touted as 'heart-warming' and 'life-affirming' I do worry it could also be triggering for some - particularly as the sub-plot with Gina seemed to have zero consequence for the characters this story. The book switches between James rooting about in his memories and the characters receiving the text. If you fancy a blackly comic tale about the end of the world via an alien invasion, then try The Third Wheel. Over the course of the night James matter of factly replays significant events in his life as his message reaches his nearest and dearest.

James is an overweight middle aged man, no girlfriend or close friends, stuck in a job he doesn't enjoy believing that his life has nowhere to go, so he boards the sleeper train to Edinburgh intending to kill himself there.

Or perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about and people will read it and consider the futility of a life-lost and the transitory nature of some of our problems. In Australia, his sister cancels her meetings, unable to get home and support her brother, taunted by unpleasant memories of their last meeting. It was highly emotional but difficult topics were tackled very sensitively and some well placed funny moments helped to keep the tone far lighter than expected. Update: I'm knocking off a star because now I have some distance, the first thing that springs to mind looking back is how crummy and unsatisfactory the ending was.

To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. James is a wonderful creation, someone pushed to the very limits and doing something incredibly extreme.It’s been some time since I cried at a book, but this one packs an emotional punch that all but made it an inevitability. I applaud the author for tackling a traumatic emotive subject, one that people naturally shy away from, without allowing the storyline to become maudlin or mawkish in any way. With the deed done, his message flying off into the ether, James switches his phone to flight mode to avoid any unwanted replies and begins to mentally prepare himself for his last hours on this planet. There was a bit of a bland “Let’s talk more” underlying message but I hardly expected anything else.

The book switches POV many times, we hear from James himself, his ex-girlfriend, his mum, his sister, his old best friend, his flatmate. The book did a pretty good job drawing the various characters, switching between following our suicidal main character and some of the recipients of his middle-of-the-night text. I enjoyed the style of story telling, but felt that it was unfinished at the point of resolution for James.

Some of the recipients James barely knows, but others are about to have their whole days changed by this revelation.