Set in, and around a shopping centre called Clearwater lying close to the Thames estuary in Kent, Will Ashon's spectacular debut novel constructs a story of intrigue, action and high entertainment around six principal figures.
King James or Vernaland, an ex-conchie bashing Special Services hardnut, and Binary Bob, his young companion with a genius for computer hacking and data-harvesting; Peter Jones, a disaffected lifestyle journalist desperate for the scoop on the invisible workings and ethics of the Clearwater complex, and Mandy, the young shop assistant befriended by Peter in his attempts to penetrate the vast edifice of consumerism. And then there's Jimmy Patel, a retired professional spin-bowler turned melancholic-alcoholic, about to be fingered himself for professional indiscretions. It's just not cricket. 'Clear Water' binds these five characters together along with the unforgettable Verna Landor - an 'entertainer' of dubious stripe to the armed forces, and King James' muse - and builds an extraordinary narrative of intrigue, espionage, deisire and dysfunction to a thrilling denouement.
