| Synopsis: |
London 1979. Tim Lomax is only twenty five and already setting up a new label with Rick, manager of the Ox. He's just won a major music award, and his Mother is finally getting out of hospital. He's even just met a girl called Loveday who bears an uncanny resemblance to the girl of his dreams. Everything's working out, the chanting uncertainties shaped like worms or ravens in his mind seem to have gone quiet, and Tim can't help telling Ned, his cat and confident, he thinks he might really have 'cracked it': give or take a couple of million...So, when Tim has a 'Big Idea' that ought to make them all millions, he drags everyone around him on a roller coaster ride to the 65th floor of euphoria and beyond: hookers, parties, mega deals, and bodyguards. Partying with the new friends, as the old ones look on in horror, love seems perilously close to hate. It's a battle between Tim, his worm, and the world, but which will win? Or will they all find a better way to take leave?A funny and enjoyable read despite it's subject matter, "Taking Leave", is packed with unforgettable characters, wryly humorous observations upon life the universe and everything, as well as some of the most fantastic comic set pieces you will read this year, or any other. This debut crosses Tom Sharp with Jonathon Coe, adding a dash of Nick Hornby, taking the reader on an immensely enjoyable, darkly comic journey, inside a deceptively convincing mind to the novel's compelling and redemptive end. |