| Synopsis: |
Taking on the themes of reality TV, the blogosphere, tabloid journalism, and sexuality, this darkly humorous modern novel is a disturbing tale of conspiracy, red carpets, paranoia, and daytime television, with a bitter take on the modern-media cult of celebrity. Ed Raynes is the showbiz correspondent for Britain's most popular daily tabloid, "The Voice," read by more than 20 million people, but his world begins to crumble in the sweltering summer of 2010, with the Olympic-village construction site on his doorstep and a shocking secret known only to himself, a television executive, and the winner of the country's highest-rated reality show. He becomes a recluse, and television and the internet are his only connection to the world outside. In an unending assault of increasingly bizarre advertisements and reality TV shows, the showbiz gossip and the bitchy, hedonistic world of the newsroom soon transform Ed's existence into a nightmarish reworking of "Heart of Darkness," played out in the concrete and glass jungle of Canary Wharf. |