n Francesca's Party by Patricia Scanlan

(Bantam, £5.99)

Mobile phones - a curse or a blessing? Francesca is about to find out the answer.

Sharing a comfortable home with one of Dublin's foremost bankers, Francesca Kirwan has had a comfortable marriage, but not without its iniquities.

Hubby Mark Kirwan is impatient, selfish and, aged 41 and at the top of his career, a man who always gets what he wants.

And the mobile phone?

After a morning dogged by late taxis and traffic problems, Francesca takes Mark to the airport. On leaving, she finds Mark's phone in the car; he has forgotten to pick it up.

Knowing his short fuse, and his dependence on the communication freedom it gives him, she decides to go back to the airport and find him before his flight takes off.

When she arrives in the departure lounge, she is horrified to see him kissing a younger woman with an ardency borne of familiarity.

Panicky and hesitant, Francesca watches them. This is not the business trip that Mark told her about - they are waiting in the lounge for a flight to Cork, not an international flight. And the woman's face is familiar.

Nikki Langan, bright, sexy and determined, was attracted to Mark as soon as she met him in the office. He wasn't a flirt, was rich and would make the perfect partner for her. The fact that he had a wife and two sons was only a slight obstacle - she could soon sort that out. She was totally unprepared for Francesca's reaction to her husband's betrayal; she thought Francesca was playing right into her hands.

Infidelity and divorce are familiar themes for nov-

els these days, but Patricia Scanlan has approached the subject with verve and pace, yet she hasn't forgotten to include the difficulties and the heartache.

At the beginning, Francesca thinks life is the pits, but all that can and does change. Her party will be the ultimate - after all, revenge is a dish best served cold. Annie Dendy