WHEN a novel starts off with the line "She had this thing she could do with her nipples", you know you're going to be reading something out of the ordinary - and Manana Man is certainly that.

This cracking debut from Scottish-born, but Leeds-based, author James Birrell is a touching and very, funny account of an alcohol-fuelled wake.

Pennance Ward and his friends, Pine, Stan and Ting have always hung out together at St Pete's, a caf bar in Leeds, to enjoy drinking games, smoke pot and indulge in bizarre "what-if" conversations. Very GQ and Loaded.

But when Ting is unexpectedly murdered while walking though a shopping arcade, the remaining trio must honour their promise to hold the "mother of all parties" - the stag wake they had all casually discussed, but never really believed they would ever see.

The boys embark on a weekend of alcohol, drugs, dancing, sex, kebabs and vomiting - and Ting, now a pile of ashes in a holdall - is taken along to enjoy the fun.

After their wild night in the fleshpots and hotspots of Leeds, the boys, together with a trio of female friends, including "drop dead honey" Ali Fox, head to Mull, where Ting wanted to be laid to rest.

But the road trip north to Scotland, courtesy of the fourth emergency service, the AA, does not all go according to plan, and Pennance is forced to make life-changing decisions, something he can't afford to put off until tomorrow.

The Manana Man is a story of friendship, love, life, death and turning 30. And as soon as I had finished it, I wanted to read it all over again. Don't wait for tomorrow, read it today.

Simon Ritchie

Updated: 09:23 Wednesday, February 27, 2002