This is a short book but has a big impact. Its set in Manchester, probably in the late 90s, early 2000s - not sure exactly. It's fairly low on plot, but big on the atmosphere of a dismal rainy Manchester as the narrator wanders around, saddened by a relationship break up, working in a dive bar, stuck in a dead end life. Not much happens but a lot goes on in the narrators head and its well written. ( )

This was the second of her books I've read, & like the first (Sick Notes) I enjoyed it. I preferred Sick Notes, but Cold Water wasn't vastly different. There is not a lot of action in her novels,the narrator seems to always be fairly introspective & thoughtful, describing people & conversations rather than there being a detailed, linear plot. That's very much the case in Cold Water. I did find the characters a little too similar to Sick Notes in their attitudes & places in life. Her narrators always remind me of a friend I used to have - intelligent but drifting, wasting their lives by going nowhere & working in menial jobs just to enable them to pay the rent & drink in old dives. Still, I really do like her writing style & she does capture the characters & the city setting very well. ( )