London and the South-East
From the Booker Prize winning author of FLESH
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4.1 • 14 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
THE 2025 BOOKER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF FLESH
'One of the great English novels of recent years' Rachel Cusk
A discontented ad salesman finds his life changed, in the wryly funny and addictive first novel from the 2025 Booker-Prize winning author of FLESH
Paul Rainey, an ad salesman, perceives dimly through a fog of psychoactive substances his dissatisfaction with his life - professional, sexual, weekends, the lot. He only wishes there was something he could do about it.
And 'something' seems to fall into his lap when a meeting with an old friend and fellow salesman, Eddy Jaw, leads to the offer of a new job. But when this offer turns out to be as misleading as Paul's sales patter, his life and that of his family are transformed in ways very much more peculiar than he ever thought possible.
‘Startlingly good’ The Independent
‘Wonderfully dark’ The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This bleak, devastatingly observant novel from the Booker Prize finalist follows English ad salesman Paul Rainey. Stuck on an underperforming team at a dead-end sales firm, Paul is thrown a life raft by a former colleague, Eddy, who promises him a position at his own thriving sales company in exchange for a betrayal of Paul's current one. Paul goes to painstaking, embarrassing lengths to orchestrate this betrayal, recruiting his fellow salespeople to jump ship with him to Eddy's firm, but the plan backfires spectacularly on Paul, costing him his job, friends, and purpose. After he fails to secure employment as a gardener and then as a street sweeper, Paul's wife, Heather, finds him a job stocking shelves overnight at a supermarket. What minor confidence boost this affords Paul is swiftly eradicated by another betrayal, leading Paul to devise a revenge plan so ill-conceived that it circles around to profound. Written with intense psychological acuity and inventive detail, the author turns a humdrum account of male malaise into an experience far more affecting and universal than it has any right to be.
Customer Reviews
Yes it’s a bit depressing but I like it
Okay so it doesn’t leave you feeling warm and jolly, but the sparse and subtle humour is enough to get you through without feeling too bad about old Paul. A thoroughly enjoyable and strangely gripping story of a desperate and somewhat likeable salesman.