I had no idea Fielding was trying to turn Bridget into a series. The original concept B.J. (interesting initials...) was good, but it's not one you can repeat. Fielding has ignored this basic fact and produced a book, that while eminently readable, offers nothing new. The diary format with the weight, cigarettes, and alcohol use, was interesting in the first book, but entirely useless in this one.

To make matters worse, the entire plot is straight from "Screenwriting for Dummies". There's the initial sense of security, the crisis (entirely false as everybody with a brain notices immediately), post-crisis conflicts, a more severe crisis, and the happy ending.

The separation of Mark and Bridget is so unbelievable that no wonder Fielding hurries over it, a second's thinking about it would reveal the absurdity. Real people don't get separated unless at least one of them wants to...By the time we get to the cliched mishandled note we're beyong caring.

The whole Mark Darcy character seems false. A man who doesn't know which door is which in his own kitchen, while living alone, is nothing but bad imagination from Fielding. If she wanted to express that Darcy doesn't feel comfortable in his big house there are a million better ways to do it. Also, his dashing off to Dubai and somehow capturing an international drug smuggler is just way over the top.

If they make a movie out of this, who will Bridget interview as Colin Firth is already cast Darcy?