So far this year, the books I have read have either been children’s books or they have been beautifully lyrical, slow-paced delicacies of adult fiction.

Not this one. Belinda Bauer’s Exit is a real page turner, in fact I absolutely devoured its 435 pages in 24 hours.

At the end of last year I read Belinda Bauer for the first time with Snap and I absolutely loved it. Exit is better, well at least I think so.

Felix Pink is widowed and his only son died as a young man so he is completely alone apart from his faithful dog Mabel. As a result of watching his son die of cancer and his wife of dementia, Felix is pro assisted dying and belongs to a group, called the Exiteers, whose members preside over the suicide of someone who is terminally ill and wants to end their life with dignity. Group members are passive observers, do not assist the patient in any way and extremely careful to stay within the law.

But when Felix and a new Exiteer Amanda go to oversee the death of a terminally ill man, his son dies instead and 75-year-old Felix finds himself wanted by police for the first time in his life.

Now, if I follow that information with the sentence ‘this book is hilarious’ you may think I have mixed up my reviews… but I haven’t. This book is really funny, laugh-out-loud-many-times funny.

Felix as a character is charming and loveable. He comes across as a lovely old man and I was really hoping he was not going to be arrested and charged with murder. He’s the sort of man you would like to have as a grandad.

There is a wide cast of characters including unlucky-in-love Calvin Bridge, a 27-year-old PC who did a stint as a detective, is now back in uniform, but is roped in to CID to help with this particular case. Other fine characters include, relatives of the deceased, Felix’s next door neighbour, police officers, the head of the Exiteers and numerous members of the clientele of the local bookies.

Each has a purpose as the plot twists and turns in ways you just could not imagine. How Belinda Bauer combines euthanasia, horse racing, moneylending, fishing and relationships into one fast-paced mystery is nothing short of miraculous.

Several times I was convinced I’d worked it all out… only to find that I hadn’t as the plot threw up something I really hadn’t been expecting, keeping me on my toes all the way through.

But in addition to being funny, there are some really poignant moments within these pages as well.

So, to summarise, in Exit I found a story about euthanasia and gambling, with some superb characters, many of which I loved, a plot that twists and turns like a maze, thoughtful and thought-provoking relationships in a mystery which was laugh-out-loud funny.

That’s quite an achievement and I thought Exit was brilliant. I cannot wait to read more Belinda Bauer – both Snap and Exit, the only ones I have read so far, I found different to anything I have read before and extremely enjoyable.