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I’d glanced at ratings for this book - uniformly four or five stars from my book reading friends - and had read enough of the accompanying commentaries to know that this was a big book, at over 600 pages, covering a lump of time from the late 1960’s onward. I’d also gleaned that it was a family saga, with some political history thrown in for good measure. All good so far. What I’d no doubt have discovered if I’d dug a little deeper is that this book is brilliantly written in a style that reminded me of esteemed pensmiths such as Donna Tartt and Tom Wolfe. It also includes a wry and often hilarious look at how social media and online gaming have gained such a foothold in the lives of so many people in the 21st century.

It’s a book that jumps back and forth in time. Early on, we meet an eleven-year-old Samuel (Sam) Andresen-Anderson, a boy who cries a good deal. He is befriended by Bishop, a similarly aged, confident boy from his neighbourhood who already has career ambitions to be a soldier. Bishop introduces Sam to Bethany, his twin sister. Sam is instantly entranced by Bethany. The first major trauma in Sam’s life has already been signalled in the opening of the book but now it’s acted out in full: his mother, having clearly planned her escape in advance, walks away from the family home, never to return. Later, the loose ends left by these early encounters and events will be fleshed out �� deliciously so.

As the story plays forward, we see that Sam has become an English literature professor and is having problems with one of his students. Laura Pottsdam decided some time ago that cheating her way to a degree is the way to go, and she’s not happy that Sam has rumbled the fact that her latest paper is an act of pure plagiarism Sam really is too busy keeping up with her vast array of acquaintances on the social network, I feel, to have time to actually research and write a paper of her own. Not one to bow down to authority, Laura will find a way of combatting her professor’s annoying accusation, that's for sure.

Sam is very much the lead character here, and it’s through him that we continue to meet the rest of the cast, even as we start to realise what a mess his life really is. It would appear that as an aspiring writer, he managed to secure a substantial advance for a book he has yet to write. The money is, of course, already spent, and the publisher is now demanding the return of the lucre. To add to Sam’s woes, he has no woman in his life and all his non-working time is entirely taken up by his addiction to an on-line game called World of Elfscape (easily identified as a close cousin of a certain ever expanding game my nineteen-year-old son seems similarly addicted to!) We will spend quite a bit of time in Word of Elsfscape, where we will also meet ‘Pwnage�� the game name for a fellow gaming addict and acknowledged master Eflscape raider �� and probably my favourite character of all.

I’m not giving much away here as all these events occur very early on. From this point, the fractured narrative takes us on a big ride through the decades as major events unfold, questions are asked and answered, and the lives of our characters are lived. It’s a truly spectacular piece of fiction. The novel mixes serious observation on real events (though the author has confessed he took some liberties with the fine detail), deep personal tragedy, and absolute hilarity. And it does all of this brilliantly well, whilst telling a complex and compelling story that kept me glued to the text throughout.

If I were looking for a criticism, it might be that there are some sections that do jabber on a bit. Could some passages have been selectively pruned? Well, yes, but I’m not sure that this would have improved the book. Instead, I think it would have been to its overall detriment. I believe these rambles are part of the soul of this piece. The writing is top drawer, and each character and each event has its place in the overall puzzle. At no point did I become lost in the maze or bored by a particular character or switched off by a protracted rant �� it all fits together, it’s all part of the overall prize. Reading this book was a wonderful adventure, and I’m really sad I’ll not be waking up tomorrow to eagerly gobble up the next chapter or two. I already miss it.

My sincere thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.