Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

I finished reading this book on the train home from work last night.  Despite the title, only one chapter of it takes place in the Netherlands, the rest of the story happens in various places around London and the Lake District. 
McEwan is a wonderful writer, at times putting his characters and his readers in very strange, weird situations, that spin out of control.  Atonement, his other novel that I've read, while a completely different story all together, does manage to go over some similar themes: memory, moral dilemma, delusion and betrayal.

This story opens with two old friends, successful in their professional fields, one a classical composer, the other a chief newspaper editor. Both men are their late 50s, at the funeral of, Molly Lane, the former lover of both men.  The death of this vivacious woman makes them think about their own mortality. Over the next few weeks, a pact made with each other after the funeral, turns their friendship into personal tragedy.