A grim and dreary portrait of life in post-WWII London. Anderson's wife has died on February 4, three weeks previously, in an apparent accidental fall down the basement stairs. An advertising executive, he is performing poorly at work; things only get worse when the date on his brass desktop calendar keeps mysteriously changing back to February 4. . . . While admittedly I read this psychological novel in one sitting (i.e., it's quite readable), I can't say I enjoyed it. ( )

Anderson's wife fell down the stairs three weeks ago. It wasn't that they were close. In fact, he can't remember now why he ever married her. But for some reason, he's falling apart after her death. Maybe it's because the police have been coming around asking questions. He's been finding strange letters. And his office calendar keeps changing its date. He can't keep his mind on his work at the advertising firm. What really happened to Valerie?

This is perhaps the book that Symons is best known for, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some of his others. A Three Pipe Problem was better. The feeling of being unable to know whether Anderson had really killed his wife, was he going crazy or was he being persecuted - it made for a good story, but it could have been better. What saved it for me was the ending. Suddenly, I looked at everything in a different light and it was much more interesting. 3.5 stars ( )