M2C Online Bookclub - The Heart Broke In (Part 1)

With the repellent Ritchie Shepherd, James Meek has given us a character we can love to hate  - a sleazy TV producer with an eye for underage girls. Ritchie leads a double life, he has a flat in the city for his liasons and a wife and kids installed in the family home in the countryside. He's managed to draw a line between his two lives and they rarely intersect .
Until now.
It too soon to say but I'm hoping Ritchie gets caught. At the close of Part 1 I thought he was going to be exposed but it looks like the deranged newspapaer editor Val Oatman has some other use for the information he holds - blackmailing to Ritchie to get some dirt on his sister Bec (who's just broken off her engagement to Val)
Meanwhile in Papua New Guinea Bec is fending off the advances of a fellow researcher. This episode is hilarious.
I'm interested in Ritchie's wife Karen  - is she completely unaware of his proclivities? Is she happy to stay at home and look after the kids? Ritchie seems to genuinely care for his children but at the same time sees nothing wrong with sleeping with a fifteen year old (James Meek has written an interesting article for The New York Times On Jimmy Savile & The Heart Broke In).
Short snappy chapters told from alternating characters points of view kept me reading and meant my interest never flagged.

Other books to read if you're enjoying The Heart Broke In:

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen - A funny, touching and clever story of family life in modern America.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - A spellbinding novel narrated by a host of characters as their lives intersect thfough the years.

M2C Bookclub Competition - win tickets to James Meek event in September