Chapter 5 pp. 22-23 – the first time anyone (Charlotte) asks about Colin – we still get the impression that he’s still alive. P. 24 – Chambers shows empathy for Charlotte with regards to Graz’s insensitive behaviour + p. 26 – Chambers doesn’t make many emotional outbursts, and is more concerned with other people’s feelings, rather than revealing his own emotions. P. 25 Chambers blacks out for the first time just after Charlotte’s kissed him – he’s thinking about Colin for some reason

Chapter 7 p. 30 After Charlotte departs, Chambers wants to see Colin, who he thinks is probably on the cliffs. Then he has a dream about waking Colin up on the cliffs, who asks Chambers why he didn’t come back for him, before Colin jumps off the edge of the cliffs, thus revealing the location of his death (the manner of it is debateable though)

Chapter 10 Chambers wakes up with the fizzing sound in his ears for the first time. P. 36 – Chambers sees Colin again in the High Lanes pub, with a halo of light behind him, and with shaven hair – perhaps as a result of the autopsy? Although Colin is quite cold and aggressive to Chambers, in this first encounter after Chambers tried to meet him up on the cliffs

Chapter 12 p. 44 There’s a note on Duncan’s door saying that he and Colin have gone to London for the week, thus suggesting that Duncan thinks that Colin is alive (or more likely, this is evidence of Chambers’ confused state due to the shock of Colin’s death). This is also possibly the same note on Duncan’s door that’s referred to in chapter 48, which Chambers saw on the night of Colin’s death, and which had no reference to his dead friend (as this note also wouldn’t do in reality)

Chapter 17, p. 63 Chambers meets Colin again, who says it’s a bit of a drag “being dead”. This is a better meeting, as Chambers enjoys getting stoned with Colin

Chapter 18 pp. 68-69 Chambers has a dream where he and the red haired girl from Price-Savers (Holly) are being led naked across the beach by the four robots he’d seen on the TV in Tim’s house

Chapter 20, p. 77 However, Chambers has an uneasy feeling that there’s something more about Colin’s departure that he’d forgotten about, and then he has the dream about Alex and Paul’s bloody van on the beach, which he’s trying to wash, while they stand around laughing. This is a metaphor of Chambers having blood on his hands. Chambers turns around to see Colin there with the fizzing sound emanating from his mouth…

Chapter 21, p. 81 Chambers reckoned he would have been arrested if he’d called a policeman a “dozey twat” instead of Bradby

p. 82 Chambers specifies that he dreamt that he’d driven Alex and Paul’s van up to the cliffs, which leads Neale to suggest that this dream may have been real, and on p. 83, this idea comforts Chambers, as it makes it easier to not worry too much about making sense of a lot of what he remembers from the whole Colin incident (although one would have thought that it would have caused more turmoil if Chambers had actually killed Colin! However, there’s no other evidence in the book that Chambers murdered Colin, so I think this reading is most likely quite groundless)

Chapter 28, p. 105 Chambers has a vision of a big guy hitting him just before he passes out, just after he’s just been kissing Holly. P. 106 Chambers thinks the reason why he passes out after making out with girls may be because Colin was angry at him for doing this for some reason, but he doesn’t know why. Pp. 106-107 Chambers has 2 visions during his blackout, the first involving him having some kind of sumo wrestle with Colin, the next, they’re both racing the toy robots, but in each event, Colin is winning because Chambers is letting him do do. P. 108 Chambers doesn’t really know why Holly likes him, which displays a distinct lack of confidence when it comes down to his relations with would-be girlfriends. P. 109 Chambers reveals that his mum’s told him to get a job or else he’ll have to move out

Chapter 30, p. 116-117 – In a flashback, Chambers complains about Colin to a girl in a club, about how Colin always got everything, and that Chambers is sick of living in his shadow – when Colin comes over, Chambers immediately feels ashamed, and mishears Colin, thinking that he says that “you can’t live without me”. This is one time when Chambers does get his emotions off his chests, but it’s in a negative way, as it reveals his spiteful jealousy when a girl chooses to get off with Colin rather than him

Chapter 32 pp. 122-123 Colin turns up again just as Chambers is going through the job supplement. Unlike all the other times, Chambers doesn’t want to see him this time. Colin isn’t all that supportive in Chambers’ moves to get a job, so it almost seems like Colin is holding Chambers back. P. 124  Chambers reminds us that Colin is dead again, and so can’t eat toast, but offers him some anyway. This seems to be an earlier version of Colin, who’s still enthusiastic about music (something which he lost interest in just before he’d died). But then Colin just vanishes, and  it seems to Chambers that he’s gone forever

Chapter 37 The fizzing sound starts again when Chambers is making himself sick at Duncan’s house. Duncan’s fallen asleep and looks a bit like Colin just before he died.

Chapter 38 p. 145 Drunk on the rum, Chambers talks about Colin as if he’s still alive, much to Alex and Paul’s derision

Chapter 39 p. 151 – the fizzing sound gradually stops when Chambers is with Alex and Paul. Chambers tells Alex and Paul about his possibly failed relationship with Holly, without relating his feelings about her or bragging either

Chapters 39-40 Pp. 152-155 Alex and Paul suddenly get all serious and confront Chambers about Colin – although, this is just before one of Chambers blackouts, so he’s not sure that it happened. Chambers asks why he feels so guilty about Colin, and Alex says that it’s because Chambers was there when Colin died… Again, this is possibly a reference to Chambers murdering Colin, but again, I don’t think this idea has any real basis, as Chambers has no motive to do so, with the most likely explanation that this is merely a reference to Chambers’ meeting with Colin that night, or  one to Chambers’ metaphorical feeling that he’d effectively murdered Colin by not paying enough attention to him. This scene reiterates the idea that Alex and Paul are sort of like metaphorical alternatives to Colin and Chambers, and provides a vision of how aimless their future might have been together had they remained friends

Chapter 41 p. 156 Chambers finally admits to himself that he has to relate what happened the final day that Colin was alive, and to stop avoiding it

Chapter 42 p. 159 Colin rings Chambers when he’s on the deli counter. Pp. 160-161 Chambers relates that Colin and he had drifted apart in the months before he died, and that Chambers was glad that Colin had found new friends, since this meant that he no longer had to be his sidekick

Chapter 44 p. 169 Chambers notices how thin Colin has become, and states that he looks a bit like Duncan – that analogy again. I’m not sure why Duncan and Colin are compared with each other in this way, or if Chris intends us to read any more into this analogy. Chambers notes how similarly he and Colin have dressed. Chambers is a bit taken aback when he hears Colin say that he doesn’t want to know about his problems – he’s obviously picked up on Chambers’ unreceptive mood

Chapter 45 p.171 Chambers relates how he’s having problems expressing himself in an English exam. P. 172 – the weird dream where there’s smoke coming out of Julie’s mouth, and then Chambers says he’s Colin.

p. 173 – dream featuring Colin and Tanya at the Bowman’s about how Colin is leaving

Chapter 46 pp. 176-177 Chambers finally relates the final conversation, with Colin saying that “I don’t feel like I’m really here any more.” Chambers relates how he acted like a disinterested arsehole in this conversation. Colin goes on about how all of us are avoiding the reality of what’s going on in our minds. Colin describes a horror of losing himself in another person like Tanya (maybe this is why “he” makes Chambers black out when he’s kissing girls).  P. 178 Colin says he goes up to the cliffs to experience “what reality actually is” – maybe the sound of the wind and the sea that he hears is the source of the fizzing noise that haunts Chambers?

Chapter 47 p. 179 Since the ghost of Colin has now disappeared, Chambers never gets the opportunity to ask him if it would have made any difference if he had accompanied him up to the cliffs. So, in order to gain some closure, Chambers writes the letter… or does he? Pp. 180-181 – The root of Colin’s existential angst is the question: “Are we really here? Why are we always trying to escape? What’s left in our lives if we take away our distractions? P. 181 Chambers describes the sounds of the wind and the sea as fizzing. P. 182 Colin says he’s already gone, and Chambers relates how he may have found this self-written note in his pocket…

Chapter 48 p. 183 After the pub meeting, Chambers goes to Duncan’s flat (where he sees the note about Duncan only going to London)

Chapter 49 p. 186 The fizzing sound stops once Chambers gets on the train to Firkinton