I was blown away by A Curious incident, and I loved A Spot of Bother, which I found a gentle, observant, compassionate read. I was hoping for similar from A Red House, but I just don't know. Haddon's observations about psychology and human behaviour and family etc are still very good. His characters are great, and sympathetic if not totally likeable, if that makes sense - he is keen to dwell on failings and foibles in this story. And realistically, he denies us much closure. The problems he establishes don't get resolved, fences aren't really mended, people are still weak and flawed and distanced from each other.

Maybe I'm just at a stage in my life when I need simplistically happy endings. Or just something finite. I mean, we read fiction to escape our dismal real life confines, don't we? I don't just want to see my own frustrations repeated in text. If that's what was wrong with me reading this, I'm still not quite sure. This could very likely just be my problem - I'd recommend it, but would be interested to see if anyone else felt the ending a little anti climactic or unsatisfying?