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Danny (Dhananjaya Rajaratnam) has been living as an illegal immigrant in Sydney for four years after arriving from Sri Lanka on an educational visa to study at what turned out to be a bogus college. He's managed to make himself nearly invisible on the streets of Sydney, dying the tips of his hair golden, smoothing out his Tamil accent and peppering his English with Aussie expressions. He has a girlfriend, a handful of friends who are also illegal immigrants and some regular work as a cash in hand cleaner. He lives in the storeroom on a convenience store in exchange for working in the store and giving the owner a third of what he owns cleaning. When one of his cleaning clients is murdered Danny suspects he knows who killed her but must decide whether to tell the police and risk deportation. This novel describes the course of a single day where Danny tosses up the pros and cons of going to the police.

Danny is a great character, intelligent, cheerful, hardworking and caring. Through him Adiga really helps us see what it is like to live in the shoes of an illegal immigrant, to always keep a low profile, put up with others treating you badly and be careful never to draw attention to yourself. It's very easy to feel sympathy for Danny who wants to do the right thing by his murdered client but doesn't want to be sent back to Sri Lanka where he was previously tortured by immigration officials and will have to face his family and the shame of returning empty handed. The prose is easy and flows freely through Danny's flashbacks to his life in Sri Lanka and his provoking and often humorous thoughts on Australia, Australians, racism and legal vs illegal immigrants. I was also very impressed with Adiga's knowledge of Sydney. I don't know how long he spent when he visited but he exhibits a superb knowledge of the city centre and inner city suburbs, as well as the suburban rail network.

With thanks to Pan Macmillan Au and Netgalley for providing a digital ARC to read