Concrete Island

A wealthy architect becomes a modern-day Robinson Crusoe in this chilling, twisted novel by the author of Empire of the Sun and High-Rise.

Robert Maitland, a thirty-five-year-old architect, is driving home from his London offices when a blowout sends his speeding Jaguar hurtling out of control. After smashing through a temporary barrier, he finds himself dazed and disoriented on a traffic island below three converging motorways. But when he tries to climb the embankment or flag down a passing car for help, it proves impossible—and he finds himself imprisoned on the concrete island. Maitland must survive using only what he can find in his crashed car.


As in all J.G. Ballard's best work, Concrete Island provides an unnerving study of our modern lives and world. With his alienating, "Ballardian" view of normal events, this is a unique novel from one of the twentieth century's finest writers.

Praise for Concrete Island

"A vision in both style and substance. The literary equivalent of Salvador Dalí or Max Ernst." —The Washington Post Book World

"This is the excellent stuff of classic castaway adventure, stiffened here by contemporary overtones that call into question social values." —San Francisco Chronicle