In this ambitious story, a new drug, Yareta, comes to market which will allow users to live for hundreds of years. The story follows Sam and Yuki, a couple in their early thirties who split up after Yuki discovers that Sam has signed up to receive the drug. What happens over the next years, with an increasing range of characters, raises a series of issues about how such a drug might be received and what the implications could be.

Sam starts a new relationship with Maya, another Yareta user, who, unlike him, is determined to use the extra span of years effectively. She eventually lands a job with the company which holds the patents for the drug, working as an assistant to the CEO. This involves a lengthy diversion about her time in California while Yuki spends time in Tokyo. All of this is interspersed with flashbacks and date changes. The result is that the essential story, about Sam and Yuki does not entirely flow. Also, although Sam retains his youth by taking the drug, there is little sense of him maturing or learning by experience.

There are some interesting features. The first few chapters of the novel clearly relate the debate surrounding the introduction of Yareta to Brexit, to the extent that the referendum vote to permit its use comes out in favour by the same amount. The book also explores what happens with children and pregnancy, as well as the difficulty of maintaining progression in a career when all of the top jobs are taken by people who are going to live for a century or more.

In some ways, the book tries to do too much but it is an entertaining read and there’s lots to discuss and think about in the way the story unfolds. It’s an entertaining read and a well presented audiobook.