GORMLESS Paul Carpenter can't believe it when he lands his first job. After all, in the interview the only reason he could think of for why he wanted the junior clerk's post was: "I've applied for lots of jobs lately". He doesn't even know what the firm of JW Wells & Co do. It all seems very dull: shuffling bits of paper in endless files. To make matters worse, Paul finds himself sharing an office with Sophie, the bad-tempered girl who was interviewed at the same time as him. She's every bit as unpleasant as he remembered.

Paul has an unhappy knack of falling in love with women who despise him, which is why he becomes so obsessed with chasing Sophie he almost fails to notice when strange things start to happen.

Like the beady red eye that stares at him through the J.W. Wells letterbox when he arrives early for work; the clawmark on his office door; or the sword stuck in a large block of stone that suddenly turns up in his bedsit. This oddball comedy starts out like one of those witty, shallow London novels about useless Englishmen. But it quickly turns into something much more interesting. You will either love it or hate it. I loved it.

Updated: 09:05 Saturday, March 19, 2005