NICK HORNBY Juliet, Naked ***(*)

Like all Nick Hornby novels this is very easy to read. I think his ideal is that a novel's author should become invisible, with the writing so simple and clear that nothing comes between the reader and the story and its characters.

Also typically of Hornby, the book features a nerdy 40-something male. Duncan is obsessed with a 1980s American rock star, Tucker Crowe, whose album 'Juliet' is a cult hit with a tiny group of fans. When Duncan is the first fan to hear a new acoustic version of the album ('Juliet, Naked') he thinks he's discovered the Holy Grail and publishes an ecstatic review on his website. His partner, the long-suffering, sensible Annie, is less impressed and thinks it may be a case of the Emperor's new clothes - and says so in her own review on the same website. Tucker Crowe himself agrees with Annie and they enter into an email correspondence and then meet.

Set mostly in a run-down seaside town in the north-east of England, it's all very tender, funny and sometimes quite sad. The characters are lovingly and sympathetically drawn, and I for one got hooked. But to be honest it's all a bit thin, and a bit soppy.