In Dreaming with Strangers, Matt Thorne--who has already made a big impact with his first two novels Tourist (which was long-listed for the Guardian fiction prize) and Eight Minutes Idle--is back on the terrain of the confused battle of the sexes in early 21st century London. Chris Paley is a film buff and movie reviewer who is down on his luck after breaking up with his actress girlfriend Diana, unable to "cope with the way Diana handled her depression". Chris goes flat hunting to start again and write a book on romantic movies. "He"d already nearly moved into a flat because there was a Rumble Fish postcard on the fridge so when he noticed a framed Drugstore Cowboy on the bedroom wall" he immediately takes Becca Coles" disused flat. However, when the estate agent tells Becca that Chris, like her, is a film buff, and that "He looks a bit like that guy from The X Files, Becca"s curiosity is piqued, and she uses her key to get into her old flat to see just what Chris is all about. The result is a bitter sweet comedy of manners, as Chris and Becca try to establish a relationship in the midst of meddling friends, ex-girlfriends and cheating boyfriends. What keeps them going is an understanding that "All life is a film", and their attempt to figure out "which film is it?" that scripts their own situation. With shades of Woody Allen, Dreaming of Strangers will please Thorne"s growing band of admirers, but may well turn off those who don"t spend all their time going to the movies. --Jerry Brotton