NOVEL all about teenage pregnancy would not be my first choice, but the thing about Nicky Hornby is he has this knack of drawing you in before you have realised it.

Written from the perspective of a 16- year-old boy who gets his girlfriend pregnant and the angst he goes through, Slam has the right mix of laughs and darker moments.

Sam is 16 and mad on skateboarding until he discovers Alicia. Sex and fatherhood follow rather rapidly. As a boy who was left with his mother by his own father as he was growing up, Sam makes a real go of being a good father to Rufus and everything looks to be on track.

But the twist in the tail is when Sam finds himself propelled several years into the future and there are amusing situations for the main character to negotiate.

I have to admit I had failed to really get into this book until I spent a sunny afternoon in the park, but that put me in the right frame of mind to make the most of what is again another well-crafted novel by Hornby.

I'm sure the film rights have already been negotiated.