Incompetence

I finished this novel by Rob Grant last night.  Like Eddie in the superb Colony, and to some extent Rimmer or Lister in Red Dwarf, it tells the tale of one man's situation going from bad to worse to ludicrous.  Then just as you think it can't get any worse, it does. The story is told from the first person perspective of a secret agent (of some agency or other) who works in a near future United States of Europe, where bureaucracy has reached amazing (though in some ways realistic) heights.  The name of the book is in reference to the law in the USoE which states that people cannot be fired for being incompetent at their jobs.  Our protagonist is on the trail of a lone and very competent murderer. I ploughed through the book really quickly as it was compelling enough to keep me reading another chapter.  It's really inventive and is hilariously funny in parts with some really impressive pacey set pieces. I think this book contains the most impressive and audacious way to catch a train ever commited to paper. Definitely worth a read.