Maxwell's Demon

(Paperback)

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Description

This autumn, life is catching up with struggling novelist Thomas Quinn.

Five years ago, his mentor, Andrew Black, wrote a mystery novel that sold a million copiesand then he disappeared. Could it be that Quinn is being stalked by the hero of Blacks book His wife, Imogen, usually has the answers, but shes working on the other side of the world and talking to her on webcam just isnt the same.

Quinn finds himself in a world that might well be coming apart at the seams. If he could find Black, he might be able to discover the truth.

Reviews

'I enjoyed Maxwells Demon a great deal. Anyone who enjoyed The Raw Shark Texts will be delighted. * Toby Litt *
'Labyrinthine, mind-twisting and deliciously diabolical, yet also unexpectedly warm-hearted. Maxwells Demon is fantastic.' * Christopher Brookmyre *
'A cracking detective story that seems to be investigating its own existence. Hall explores that rich border zone that lies between fiction and non-fiction, and does it with verve and a playful, adventurous spirit. A unique voice in exploratory fiction. * Jeff Noon *
Dazzlingly clever, wickedly playful, devastatingly poignant. * M. R. Carey *
A wonderfully imaginative, splendidly baroque novel that is a combination of the baffling, teasing and tantalising. Part fantasy, part mystery, it is altogether delightful and filled with surprises in a word, exceptional. No, make that two words; the second is fantastic. A rare, sui generis treat. * Booklist, starred review *
An engaging, pacy mystery as well as an exploration of reality, entropy and the language of a modern creative landscape . . . The book is full of conceptual and typographic trickery and its soaked in an appreciation of the written word. * Independent *
Moves at an exhilarating lick . . . The genius of the book is that despite it seeming like an elegant orrery, all these wheels within wheels are a carapace, a psychic armour against a grief (and its not the grief you were expecting). Beneath this truly beautiful astrolabe is a beating human heart. * Stuart Kelly Scotsman *
A smart, teasing and (above all) loveable mystery tale . . . Superb. * Sunday Telegraph *
Ingeniously plotted and compulsively well-paced, a blend of detective story and science fiction with an epistemology course thrown in. * Sunday Times *
A postmodern mystery . . . Ingenious fun . . . Showily postmodern, full of odd typographical elements, altered realities and intertextual jokes . . . Maxwells Demon is consistently fun and often impressive. * Guardian, Book of the Day *
An entropic and sprawling mystery . . . Mind-twisting . . . Introspective and philosophical, the novel explores the dangers that occur when fatalistic urges take over. * New Statesman *
Written in the first person and paced like a thriller, theres an intimacy and immediacy that quickly grips, and even the long digressions on theory a trademark of the form are enjoyable to read. * Spectator *
Its Raymond Chandler meets Dan Brown meets Albert Einstein. Meets Christopher Nolan. Meets Jorge Luis Borges. Its a mind-expanding page-turning adventure-mystery that crackles with intelligence and intrigue; a book about books (sort of) thats been beautifully rendered in book form. * Foyles *
Anyone who has a taste for postmodern hijinks fans of Thomas Pynchon or Mark Z. Danielewski will be drawn to the menace and profusion, the same-like brilliance and black hilarity of Maxwells Demon. * Sydney Morning Herald *
Theres no denying what a brilliant writer Hall is. * Good Reading *
As melancholy as it is captivating. Whether pertaining to thermodynamics or company kept around a manger or autumn leaves born of text and set free, Maxwells Demon is hard to put down. Even when youre done. * Mark Z Danielewski *
Theres really nothing like this booklong contemplations of philosophy, personality, religion and history are all woven into something of a mystery in which no one is truly reliable...Hall manages to put a whole world on the page that shifts and changes as weirdly and wildly as the ones in the novels fictional books...Written with verve and a vast appreciation for the power of language. * Kirkus Reviews *
Hall takes great pleasure in his half of the job and leads us playfully through the books various twists and turns...This is a novel that requires patience, but the sheer jouissance of Halls writing means that that patience...will not go unrewarded. * Times Literary Supplement *
A postmodern literary thriller about a difficult second novel...Anyone who has a taste for postmodern hijinks...will be drawn to the menace and profusion, the game-like brilliance and black hilarity. * Australian *

Author Bio

Steven Halls debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts, won the Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. It was an international bestseller and has been translated into over thirty languages. Hall was also the lead writer on the bestselling video game Battlefield 1, which sold over 3 million copies in its first week of release. In 2013, Hall was named as one of Grantas Best of Young British Novelists. Maxwells Demon is his long-anticipated second novel.