Description

‘Deliciously diabolical’ Chris Brookmyre
‘Wickedly playful’ M.R. Carey

Thomas Quinn is having the strangest autumn . . .
Nine years ago, his mentor Andrew Black wrote a million-copy-selling mystery novel – and then disappeared. Now could it be that Thomas is being stalked by the hero of Black’s book? And that new answerphone message sounds a lot like his own father. His father who has been dead for years.

Thomas’s wife Imogen usually has the answers but she’s on the other side of the world. If he can just find Black, perhaps Thomas might start finding some answers . . .

With the same white-knuckle thrills as Hall’s first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, Maxwell’s Demon is a freewheeling investigation into the magic power locked inside the alphabet, love through the looking glass, the bond between parents and children, and, at its heart, the quest for meaning in a chaotic and untidy world.

Publisher Review

Dizzyingly good . . . clever, fun, gripping and shot through with melancholy * * Scotland on Sunday * * A thriller with elements of sci-fi, romance and memoir . . . A cracking read . . . but it's the outrageous inventiveness that marks it out as really special * * Irish Independent * * Utterly thrilling . . . leaves your heart pounding * * Marie Claire * * An absurdly confident and intriguing debut. Move over Damien Hirst * * Esquire * * Fast, sexy, intriguing, intelligent - The Raw Shark Texts is all these and more: a cult waiting to happen, a blockbuster begging to be made. Steven Hall is a truly fantastic storyteller. Investigate, now! -- TOBY LITT No novel with a cat called Ian in it can fail to win a place in my heart * * Daily Telegraph * * Genuinely isn't like anything you've ever read before * * Independent * * Very entertaining. The bastard love-child of The Matrix, Jaws and The Da Vinci Code -- MARK HADDON Clever, exciting, funny and moving * * Sunday Times * * A psychological thriller with shades of Memento and The Matrix and the fiction of Mark Danielewski; page-turning, playful and chilling by turns * * Guardian * * A cult in the making * * Time Out * * PRAISE FOR THE RAW SHARK TEXTS: Inventive, funny and extremely smart . . . I nearly fell off my chair with admiration -- AUDREY NIFFENEGGER With Maxwell's Demon, Steven Hall has created a kaleidoscopic, disconcerting God game in which reality itself is thrown into deep shape-shifting shade. Like David Mitchell, Mark Z. Danielewski and the Christopher Nolan of Inception, Hall has created his own unique world in which readers take a journey as mercurial and unexpected as life itself. Maxwell's Dream is a radiant and unique achievement -- BRADFORD MORROW Anyone who enjoyed The Raw Shark Texts will be delighted -- TOBY LITT A cracking detective story that seems to be investigating its own existence -- JEFF NOON Labyrinthine, mind-twisting and deliciously diabolical, yet also unexpectedly warm-hearted. Maxwell's Demon is fantastic -- CHRIS BROOKMYRE Dazzlingly clever, wickedly playful, devastatingly poignant -- M.R. CAREY Thirteen years after The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall comes back with another dazzlingly smart postmodern treat. Maxwell's Demon is both steeped in high European theory - think Calvino and Eco - and enormously enjoyable * * Observer * *