Book of the Week - Ned Beauman, Boxer, Beetle

I have a professional interest in trimethylaminuria, so a novel which in which the lead character is a sufferer is liable to attract my initial attention. In fact Boxer, Beetle has been noticed and reviewed by almost all of the main UK broadsheets, and has generally received positive comments. The consensus appears to be that it is a novel packed with energy, humour and ideas, most of which work, though there are occasional misfires – the sort of book I usually like, therefore. It is also one of five novels on the longlist for the Guardian first book award (out of ten books in total). The author, Ned Beauman, is a 25 year old Londoner, who has written for Dazed and Confused and The Guardian. The book is released as a paperback and a simultaneous hardcover in pictorial boards with no dustwrapper by Sceptre.

"This is a novel for people with breeding. Only people with the right genes and the wrong impulses will find its marriage of bold ideas and deplorable characters irresistible. It is a novel that engages the mind while satisfying those that crave the thrill of a chase. There are riots and sex. There is love and murder. There is Darwinism and Fascism, nightclubs, invented languages and the dangerous bravado of youth. And there are lots of beetles. It is clever. It is distinctive. It is entertaining. We hope you are too."