It's a Queer Fish; and he's in God's Waiting room - what's not to understand?...

Life occasionally throws up an unexpected surprise, and such a treat materialised in my corner of the universe last week when, on a whim, I agreed to review the audio-book version of the intriguingly and provocatively titled Queer Fish In God's Waiting Room, solely because Adrian Pasdar was handling storytelling duties.

Pasdar is, of course, best known as Nathan Petrelli from Heroes, Tim Kring's ambitious but ultimately flawed superhero ensemble, and having enjoyed watching him for a couple of seasons before losing interest I thought that the prospect of his somewhat distinctive voice in my ears for a few hours would provide an entertaining accompaniment to my daily commute into the Big Smoke. I wasn't wrong.

Despite the fact that Liam Kerby, the narrator of author Lee Henshaw's semi-autobiographical 2008 novel, is from Macclesfield (a town in the North of England mostly famous, as he informs us (not incorrectly) for the sexist, misogynistic pub rock trio The Macc Lads), and Pasdar is from the slightly more westerly climes of Massachusetts(lookup), his smooth American tones suit the material well, though I couldn't help but smile every time he pronounced 'twat' as 'twot' and the entertainingly peculiar way that our transatlantic cousins say 'arse' using two syllables (phonetically are-uss).

The story itself follows Liam as he and his younger brother, Brother James, and best friend, Ed Lover (who - having watched a few episodes of MTV Raps in my time - I couldn't help but picture looking like the man mountain VJ from the show, although I doubt this was the author's intention) as they undertake a trio of travels in their early twenties; visiting New York, Mexico City and Caracas while chasing chicks, drinking beer and getting stoned (most notably by way of an inventive contraption called the blackcurrant bath bong).

Initially coming across as a mildly entertaining travelogue (comedian Dom Joly described Lee Henshaw as 'a stoned new Kerouac'), Queer Fish In God's Waiting Room slowly reveals itself to have hidden depths. Written as a marriage proposal to the author's girlfriend, My Claire, who appears midway through the tale, Queer Fish develops into a love story in more ways than one - both romance and, quite literally, bromance - and ends on a quite touching note about the nature of friendship and relationships.

Running a little under three hours, Queer Fish In God's Waiting Room doesn't outstay its welcome and benefits from being a (relatively) quick listen. There are moments in the experience that, not having read the original text, I imagine work better in the audiobook format. For example, the narrator occasionally veers into listing what he has eaten over the course of the last few days in an echo of the more detailed heavy (and if I'm honest, tedious) sections of Brett Easton Ellis's otherwise superb American Psycho - but also in common with the ballad of Patrick Bateman - but this isn't enough to spoil the overall experience.

In all honesty, I think if I'd been given the print (or Kindle) version of the book to review, I'd have found myself struggling through it, but the beauty of the audiobook is that it does all the hard work for you – all you have to do is sit back and listen. As a result, credit is very much due to Adrian Pasdar, who is no stranger to voice work, having lent his vocal talents to animated incarnations of Hawkeye, Captain America and, shortly, Iron Man (in the upcoming English language version of the anime series) and who kept me entranced with his crisp delivery and smooth tones.

Queer Fish In God's Waiting Room is ultimately a short, entertaining road trip that will appeal to fans of stoner movies who like their hits from the bong with a touch of pathos. Not a classic, but certainly well worth a listen if you've got three hours to kill on a plane, train or automobile.

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