Maxwell's Demon

<p><strong>Fourteen years after the monumental publication of the international bestseller <em>The Raw Shark Texts</em>, <em>Maxwell&#8217;s Demon</em> heralds the triumphant return of <em>Granta</em> Best Young British Novelist Steven Hall.</strong></p><p>Thomas Quinn is having a hard time. A failed novelist, he&#8217;s stuck writing short stories and audio scripts for other people&#8217;s characters. His wife, Imogen, is working on a remote island halfway around the world, and talking to her over the webcam isn&#8217;t the same. The bills are piling up, the dirty dishes are stacking in the sink, and the whole world seems to be hurtling towards entropic collapse. Then he gets a voicemail from his father, who has been dead for seven years.</p><p>Thomas&#8217;s relationship with Stanley Quinn&#8212;a world-famous writer and erstwhile absent father&#8212;was always shaky, not least because Stanley always seemed to prefer his enigmatic assistant and prot&#233;g&#233; Andrew Black to his own son. Yet after Black published his first book, <em>Cupid&#8217;s Engine</em>, which went on to sell over a million copies, he disappeared completely. Now strange things are happening to Thomas, and he can&#8217;t help but wonder if Black is tugging at the seams of his world behind the scenes.</p><p>Absurdly brilliant, wildly entertaining, and utterly mind-bending, <em>Maxwell&#8217;s Demon</em> triumphantly excavates the ways we construct meaning in a world where chaotic collapse looms closer every day.</p>