Publishers Weekly
Langton summons an impressive array of voices in his charmingly comic rendition of McCarthy's kaleidoscopic novel of transformation, including gruff Scotsmen, simpering Americans, and the deceptively reasonable-sounding protagonist who guides us through a London at once recognizable and strangely altered. The book's protagonist comes into a multimillion-pound windfall after being injured in an accident and finds that the money transforms not only his life but his very self. James Langton's voice is faintly tremulous, emulating McCarthy's tone of affable confusion, but proves itself surprisingly nimble, hopscotching from character to character, and mood to mood, with pleasing flexibility. A Vintage paperback. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
"McCarthy's evocation of the narrator's absorption in his fantasy world as it cascades out of control is brilliant." ---Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
Available for the first time on audio, McCarthy's (www.surplusmatter.com) crafty 2007 debut novel tells of an unnamed Londoner who suffers terrible injuries and memory loss upon being struck by "something falling from the sky." Emerging from a coma, he receives an £8.5 million settlement and uses the money to stage elaborate reenactments of events he either remembers or has imagined, in order to jog his memory and discover something about himself that is "authentic." As the reenactments grow more complex, dangerous, and, eventually, deadly, what McCarthy's amoral everyman discovers is dystopia. Actor/musician James Langton's sly, steady narration adds to the tension of this clever story. Highly recommended for appreciators of experimental/literary fiction. [McCarthy is the author of the Booker Prize-nominated novel C, the Tantor Audio edition of which also received a starred review, LJ 11/15/10.—Ed.]—Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib.
