Waiting for the End of the World

Larkin is a drunk, an epileptic, a drifter. And yet, as he slithers along the underbelly of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, Larkin has an almost messianic mission, which may well bring the towers of the city crashing down. His motive? In these times, does he really need one?'When it comes to imaginative nastiness, the precociously talented Mr Bell (he's 28) could teach Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and lain Banks a thing or two. But his darkly- brilliant narrative, sidling through the mean streets, empty days, spare-time jobs and demon-worshipping sadism of present-day New York, has a sardonic edge that's all his own. Dreamy, poetic and ruthlessly realistic in delineating the process of brutalisation, the book can also be read as a pacy thriller. It's the best American novel I've come across since Machine Dreams' London StandardFront cover illustration by Barbara Lofthouse Larkin is a drunk, an epileptic, a drifter. And yet, as he slithers along the underbelly of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, Larkin has an almost messianic mission, which may well bring the towers of the city crashing down. His motive? In these times, does he really need one?'When it comes to imaginative nastiness, the precociously talented Mr Bell (he's 28) could teach Martin Amis, Ian McEwan and lain Banks a thing or two. But his darkly- brilliant narrative, sidling through the mean streets, empty days, spare-time jobs and demon-worshipping sadism of present-day New York, has a sardonic edge that's all his own. Dreamy, poetic and ruthlessly realistic in delineating the process of brutalisation, the book can also be read as a pacy thriller. It's the best American novel I've come across since Machine Dreams' London StandardFront cover illustration by Barbara Lofthouse