When Steven Grlscz saves a young woman from throwing herself in front of a train he finds himself consumed by a love affair which transforms her from a suicidal, angry anorexic into a happy and beautiful young woman. Then she vanishes without trace.

Across the Thames on the morning George Winnicott, former head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, is to begin his new job in charge of the City of London’s most powerful anti-fraud body, he wakes from a nightmare screaming that he knows the meaning of life. Later that day, a huge bomb explodes in the centre of London.

How are these events linked? What connects modern economics, murderous love, parachuting, pornography, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, financial fraud, terrorism, aliens, artificial intelligence, the meaning of life and the hardest crossword clue in the world?

Thirteen years in the writing, this is a novel that engages with the way the modern world works – and in admitting that contemporary life is complex, impenetrable and often terrifying, it also thrills to the patterns emerging from the chaos.

“A rather brilliant novel” – Independent on Sunday

“This is a fascinating, shocking and clever book …entertaining and thought provoking.” – Daily Mail

“very good indeed” – Indepdendent

“This is an impressive novel that inspires sensations of terror, nausea, bemusement and exhilaration… this is fiction on a grand and ambitious scale” – Daily Telegraph