It is the near future. The constitution of the United Europe states that you cannot be fired from your job for being incompetent. Quite the opposite. There are employment quotas for all aspects of incompetence. However the psychopathic serial killer that is working his way across the continent is very competent indeed.

Cardew Vascular is on the trail of the murderer. However the killer always seems to be one step ahead leaving a trail of clues for Cardew to follow.

However, before he tracks down the killer he must first find a new identity, a hotel room that actually contains a bed and, the most difficult task of all, a pair of shoes.

As he works his way across Europe Vascular encounters a bizarre array of characters including an octogenarian male Bunny (who, scarily, insists on performing a lap dance for our long-suffering hero), an airline pilot with vertigo and a police Captain with serious anger issues.

Will Vascular discover the identity of the murderer before becoming the next victim? Will he ever make it to a date with his redheaded lovely and will he ever get to keep a good pair of shoes?

I have a confession to make. When this book arrived I was half way through another novel. I picked Incompetence up (as the premise sounded so bizarre I had to see what it was about) and within the first chapter the other book had been usurped and I was thoroughly engrossed in the world of Cardew Vascular.

This has to be one of the strangest, funniest books that I have ever read. If you thought that Red Dwarf had its surreal moments them you "ain’t seen nothing yet". Just as you feel that the concept of Incompetence has been taken to the extreme you turn a page and the author comes up with an idea that is so out-there you wonder how far it can go.

I have been a fan of Rob Grant for many years. I thought that the Red Dwarf books were good but this novel far exceeds them all. I must have driven Steve mad over the day that it took to read this book as I found myself actually laughing out loud and then would dig him in the ribs and read him yet another paragraph.

This book could not have come to me at a better time. We were right in the middle of the legal bits of moving house. The stress levels were rising and I desperately needed something to take my mind off things and make me relax. Incompetence did that and more. They say that laughter is the best medicine. Well, after reading this novel I cannot argue with that sentiment.

Incompetence is very different. Surreal, bizarre and completely addictive. This has to rank as one of the best books I have ever read. As the front cover states: "Bad is the New Good".