TOMORROW Graham Swift PICADOR £16.99)

Every story is said to have a pivotal moment - let's call it the Big Bang. Graham Swift's latest novel follows the pattern of his previous one, The Light of Day, in recounting the events leading up to this moment, while leaving us guessing what the Big Bang actually is.

Narrator Paula Hook, a middle-aged mother, lies awake beside her sleeping husband on a night in 1995, working out what to say to their adolescent twins next morning - a day which will change their lives, we gather, by telling them a family secret about their origins.

By the time she is a quarter of the way through the night - and her rambling, stream-of-consciousness monologue - the suspense is killing us.

Swift is a consumate master in creating atmosphere, as well as cliff-hangers. We can visualise the scene as the couple meet at Sussex University in the sixties, copulate on the South Coast sand dunes, live a bohemian life in Earls Court and gradually settle down to cosy, neighbourly life in suburban Sussex and then in London.

But somehow, in Tomorrow his characters do not quite convince, especially Paula. The author wants to create a page-turning mystery, and so, as narrator, she is forced by the author to drop tiny hints and red herrings here and there, like a detective story writer, to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

This means that she does not really ring true as a devoted mother of teenagers, although Swift is good at highlighting the way "happy families" dance around dangerous issues which could split them apart.

It's an enjoyable read, but I felt a bit let down when the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle finally came together. There was a slight feeling of anti-climax - especially after all that passionate sex.