Nip 'n' Tuck

Chick-lit's punniest player sticks the knife into the cosmetic surgery industry with this tale of hitting 40 and getting hurt. TV journalist Lizzie loses both her job and her husband to younger women on the same day. Should she risk the scalpel to win them back? It's a relentless torrent of gags - some good, some brilliant, one or two nicked from Victoria Wood - that leaves you exhausted rather than in stitches. The best come when she lets them run away with her - there's a filthy set-piece, featuring a themed cake for The Vagina Monologues cast party. The wisecracks get wiser near the end as the moral becomes clearer - men are bastards, facelifts are pointless and "a woman is much more beautiful if she reads a book now and then".

Nip 'n' Tuck is published by Picador, priced 6.99.