GOING OUT LIVE

Mark Lawson's second novel is narrated by Richard Fleming, host of FlemingFaces - a popular TV talk show - and UK today, a drive-time radio slot.Intercut with Fleming's story are interviews from the present day with hisfriends and colleagues, who are taking part in a documentary about someclearly terrible event which took place on his television show and endedhis career. So from the beginning, where we see Richard Fleming in hisrole as successful TV celebrity, we are aware that something, some time,will go horribly wrong. As the story unfolds, Richard's troubles stack up:he is estranged from his daughters from a previous marriage; a canny femalejournalist of a certain age stitches him up, resulting in a tabloid expose;he has sex with a young researcher who is not all that she appears; he isgetting hate-mail from not one but two stalkers; and there are rumoursabout his frequent tripes to the lavatory and constant cold. As hisratings are falling, his blood pressure is rising ...