Many much-acclaimed debut novels are spectacular one-shots, with the author unable to come up with something as fresh a second time around. No such problems for Lennon, who has chosen unploughed territory with The Funnies. Few people realise how important the world of cartoons is to us all: even those who don't take them seriously would be hard put to deny that they're an essential part of our lives. When Carl Mix, the domineering father of five, dies, he leaves his nationally syndicated strip to his son Tim, also an artist. And the novel's delights come from the shifting interface between the strip Family Funnies, in which the Mix family display a relaxed unity, and the reality in which the quality of life of his senile mother and his secretive, schizophrenic brother is considerably less glossy than the strip. Written in the same kind of sharp, conversational style that characterises Anne Tyler, Lennon is good at taking us on an abrasive but often very funny voyage into the heart of a dysfunctional family (the underground artist Robert Crumb and his family would seem to be a distant inspiration). If Lennon can come up with something equally unusual for his third book, he will be very much a writer to watch. --Barry Forshaw