Hey Marie, thanks for the review of Patience Kite - the incident with Dean and the dead dog is of great importance - at least, it will be when all the cogs begin to bite and the characters start their inexorable slide toward disaster...
I know some reviewers find the choppy, episodic nature of the writing a struggle to enjoy, but the narrative strands do combine and elaborate. Some reviewers have enjoyed the structure much more. Perhaps it's more 'screenplay' then novel: television tends to rely on much shorter scenes. Maybe I suffer from ADHD!

I've had lots of comments about the committee meeting scene, and will no doubt excise even more from it in time. Bloody hell - whose idea was it to write a book with so many characters? Sigh. Next time, I'm writing about one person and in the first person!
Thanks again.