Martin Gilmour is a struggling academic at the University of South Anglia, who has never resolved events from his early life concerning his links with the rich and successful Fitzmaurice family and, specifically, with the family son and heir, Ben.

Martin is seeing a therapist as a condition of returning to his job after an incident where he is deemed to be racist. It gives him time to look back on his relationship with Ben which traces back to private school and is decidedly homo-erotic on Martin’s part, while it suits Ben to have him as a follower / admirer / servant or whatever! His usefulness extends to him taking the rap for Ben after a drunken car accident but, later, the Fitzmaurice family drop him as a favoured contact. He is irked!

Fast forward and Martin is invited to the funeral and wake for Ben’s sister Bliss who has committed suicide in Bali. The invitation comes from Ben’s wife, Serena, whose motives are not entirely clear but it brings Martin back into the family. By now, Ben has become a successful politician and is lined up to become the next Prime Minister!

As the story develops, Serena becomes an additional narrator as does her child, Cosima, and a disreputable MP, Richard Take. Eventually, events allow Martin an opportunity to right what he sees as the wrong done to him.

It sounds a complex plot but it is easier to follow in practice and it takes in not only political aspirations but also the incompetent parenting of the wealthy, climate terrorism and the old boys club of political and wealthy privilege.

It’s a good story and an entertaining read. None of the characters seem entirely innocent and some are definitely charmless but that’s probably a fair reflection of real life! Martin has a self-deprecating way of describing his life and his therapist which is both amusing and complicated. The ending of the story takes a significant amount of wrapping up but it is reasonable to say that most of the characters get their just rewards!