The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Gradually, a narrative begins to take shape. We are in a world that is not significantly removed in time from the present one. The Go Away War has recently reduced much of the landscape to a mire of unspeakable chemicals from which monsters and mutants emerge to wreak havoc.

Those who have retained a vestige of humanity are protected from harm by the Jorgmund Pipe, which snakes through what is left of the habitable countryside and provides a narrow force-field of protection. The Pipe is so-called because it is owned and operated by Jorgmund, a vast, corporate monolith which is, conveniently, all that is left of practical government. It would not take a genius to recognise a parable taking shape.

The nameless narrator and his best buddy Gonzo Lubitsch lead a team to put out a fire which threatens the Pipe. This is Mad Max territory. Suddenly, the story doubles back on itself and relates, in painstaking and often amusing detail, how this whole terrible situation came to pass. The Go Away War is depicted as the ultimate act of human folly and hubris, which had as its flashpoint the pointless conflict in a faraway place that no one much cared about.

When the status quo has been shaken to its foundations, and the old order is in disarray, then any novelist worth his salt is going to have a field day.

Harkaway does not disappoint.

Instead of concentrating on the monstrosities which man has inadvertently created through his own idiocy, he gives us a marvellous cast of exotics.

Ninjas, mimes, circus performers and magicians tumble through the pages, all of them pertinent to the action but usually in ways that you will not suspect. The underlying assumption is that ancient wisdom, in whatever guise, is preferable to the poisonous and self-serving certainties of the technological age. Certainly, those who are tuned in to life-affirming philosophies have a far better time in bed, or wherever.

Beyond any messages it may contain about the way in which we foul up the planet and the excuses for so doing, The Gone-Away World is at heart an adventure story. The goodies chase the baddies, although it is not always clear which is which. Boys chase girls and vice versa. Grown-up couples experience touching moments of togetherness.

About two-thirds of the way through, there is a development in the plot for which the word twist is scarcely adequate.

Showing remarkable skill for a debutant (even if he may be the son of John le Carré), Harkaway allows the reader to shake his head and re-evaluate everything that has gone before, before carrying on at an even more insane gallop. A remarkable work of the imagination..

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

A wildly entertaining debut novel, introducing a bold new voice that combines antic humour with a stunning futuristic vision to give us an electrifyingly original version of the apocalypse. The Jorgmund Pipe is the backbone of the world, and it's on fire. Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out - but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings and into the dark heart of the Jorgmund Company itself. From rural childhood in Cricklewood Cove to military service in a bewildering foreign war; from Jarndice University to the sawdust of the Nameless Bar; their story is the story of the Gone-Away World. It is the history of a friendship stretched beyond its limits; a tale of love and loss; of ninjas, pirates, politics; of curious heroism in strange and dangerous places. Part adventure, part comic odyssey, and part geek nirvana, this is The Gone-Away World.