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Full of descriptions of crass ostentation and the empty chatter of self-promoters and sycophants, William King’s novel describes the Hobbesian world of ambitious high-earners during the final months of Ireland’s boom. Philip and Sam Lalor – he a successful banking executive, she a rapid climber at an advertising company – have just moved into their newly redesigned mansion in Howth. Their hope is that this latest offering to the gods of materialism will plaster over the cracks in their relationships with each other and their children. Meanwhile, Aengus Sharkey, Philip’s self-aggrandising and rapacious boss, is insisting that the rumours of impending financial disaster consist of nothing but the resentment and negativity of “the begrudgers”. Sharkey, flanked by yes men, wields his power over his tense and threatened employees with grotesque pantomime solicitude, sustaining an appearance of friendship even while firing people. It’s a familiar scenario, and there’s a feeling of inevitability as King sets out to show the emptiness of lives lived according to Sharkey’s motto: “You are what you have.” But the author succeeds in evoking a business world full of cold savagery, and the tension weighing on the characters is merciless.
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