Nearly two decades after a crowd of schoolfriends in Scotland disbanded their regular Friday Night Club, it has reconvened - in London this time. At the centre, again, is Rob - now a man of means, a man about town, and a man of mystery. The story is told by the other members of the revived Friday Night Club, three men who spin round in Rob's orbit. There's lan, a hippy hedonist who has returned to Britain after wandering around Europe, teaching English and seducing women. There's Graham, freelance illustrator and aspiring artist, struggling to cope with the ghost of an ex, a flagging career and the lure of strong drink. And there's Alastair, whose shyness accounts for his nervous cough and his ability to attract nicknames, but only partly explains why he hasn't had sex since the Eighties.