To all those who've read it: which of the characters irritated you the most? They were all flawed but had redeeming qualities, and all had the capacity to piss the reader off big time. I had a few words with the friend who lent me the book last night; she said she identified with Kathy completely in that she also does not open some of her mail, but that Behrani was the one she couldn't stand.
In my case, I could most identify with Behrani and his need for stability for his family (being in a similar situation, I guess!) but I uttery and completely couldn't stand Les. What a jerk, form the start. Why did he have to hit on Kathy, he was married for goodness sake, with kids! Why did he have to intervene! OK, OK, I know the answer - because there would be no story otherwise! But that just shows how much I was involved. I was totaly exasperated with him; without his fooling around the other two could have sorted out the mess in time.
This is one book where present tense really worked for me (apart from The Pacific Between, of course!)
The half-grade I subtracted from a perfect ten was the long flashback when we got to Lester's narrative. It distracted me and I skimmed and finally skipped it.
SPOILER
Except, after Behrani died, I had to wonder how he got to write the story! A total surprise, BTW. I just wasn't expecting it.