William Hoffer - handsome, refined, a little cold perhaps - is an established figure in London society.But Hoffer has secrets. He is vague about his Midwestern origins. The counsel he offers a Russian billionaire may extend to murkier topics than art investments. Then there is his Kensington flat, which is only rented, and the broader question of his money, which is running out.When a ghost from his past in Mexico surfaces, Hoffer is forced to revive brutal instincts for se...

'A dazzling debut' The TimesIt is 2008, late capitalism is in crisis, and the great and the good are gathered at an Islington house party. Hosting proceedings are waspish Sherard Howe, scion of a publishing dynasty and owner of a left-wing magazine, and his wife, Daphne Depree, whose feminist work The Third Sex is seen - to her increasing discomfort - as an intellectual cornerstone of the Blair era. The guests include cabinet ministers, celebrated...