Clear Water - Will Ashon
Ashon's confident, tragicomic prose never falters
| 13 Sep 2006
Tying in wartime espionage with mass-market capitalism and surveillance is a narrative conceit Ashon pulls off with ease. He gradually exposes an underlying structure of intrigue and corporate power-struggle through its impact on his characters' mishap-filled lives.
This is a book you could comfortably read on a deck chair but it also has something new and complex to say about surveillance culture and mass-market media. Ashon's confident, tragicomic prose never falters, and he effectively employs flashbacks and changes of narrative perspective that could seem muddled in the hands of a lesser writer. Those expecting some connection to Ashon's dayjob as head of Big Dada Records may be disappointed, but 'Clear Water' delivers on its own merits. An enthralling debut. [Bram Gieben]
Published by Faber & Faber. Out Now. Cover Price £12.99.