To The Last Page

There are quite a few surprises in store for the reader of The Secret Purposes . It’s not so much the fact that David Baddiel confounds any expectations you might have of him from his TV comedian persona or that he shows himself here to be a first-class writer and storyteller – what’s more surprising is that, barring one or two concessions to modernity, this book remains so resolutely old-fashioned with the kind of storyline that would not be out of place in an old 1930’s or 1940’s black and white movie melodrama like ‘Waterloo Bridge’. The novel is set against the background of the forced internment of German nationals to the Isle of Man in 1940. Most of the German nationals resident in the UK just happen to be Jewish refugees fleeing from the persecution that is beginning to escalate against them in Europe. At this stage however, the scale of the Nazis’ genocidal activities is not yet fully comprehended and it’s deemed more important to minimise risks and just lock-up anyone who migh...

Fassin Taak is a slow seer, who undertakes delves, explorations of Dweller culture and knowledge. The Dwellers are inhabitants of gas giant planets and are among the most ancient and long-living creatures in the galaxy. While investigating some of their library materials, Taak unwittingly uncovers a clue to a legendary network of wormholes, rumoured to be secretly used by the Dwellers in their incredibly long excursions through the universe. It’s immensely valuable information that is in danger of being misused if it gets into the wrong hands, but word of its existence has leaked out. The whole system is on the brink of war, with attacks already being launched by troublesome Beyonder and E-5 Disconnect factions and a particularly bloodthirsty character, the Archimandrite Luseferous. Taak is charged with finding out the key to the conflict that his clue has uncovered, taking him on a journey to the far reaches of the galaxy. The plot of Iain Banks’ new novel is fairly straightforward an...