"Often referred to as the final volume of Amis's 'London Trilogy'."

This darkly satirical novel explores the professional and personal rivalry between two middle-aged writers in 1990s London: Richard Tull, a failed experimental novelist, and Gwyn Barry, his incredibly successful but talentless friend. Consumed by a lethal jealousy, Richard meticulously plots to sabotage Gwyn’s fame and wealth, leading to a series of comedic and tragic failures. Through this bitter competition, Martin Amis delivers a profound meditation on the "information" that comes with age—the realization of one's own mediocrity, the decline of the physical body, and the inevitable approach of death in a vast and indifferent universe.