Watching the Accident Happen

Why did Dave Redmond spend so much time watching cars?
He had lived for years in a semi-detached house overlooking
the A3 not through any accident of birth, but because he felt
safe and happy in it. Retired, a widower, he had the time to
watch cars. He had turned a soundproofed front bedroom
into a kind of observation post for watching cars. But why?
Was he mad? He was reluctant to talk about it, just as he
was reluctant to talk about his past, let alone about his
absorbing hobby. He wanted to stay where he was and had
not been really bothered about the possibility of change until
new neighbours moved into the house next door. The new
arrivals, especially a teenage boy and his mother, quickly
became his friends for different reasons, but along with their
arrival came the mother’s partner bringing a threatening
reminder of the Cold War into Dave Redmond’s life.
The novel transforms itself from a study in suburban
domesticity into an accidental love story that entirely
changes his future. Simultaneously he faces an ironic
awareness of the way what happened in Moscow one night
can change identity and dominate his life. Meanwhile the
cars go on racing everlastingly along the A3, until he
suddenly finds himself watching the accident happen.