“The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047,” full of discussions of economic policy and the efficacy or not of the gold standard, nevertheless contains Jane Austen-like dissections of class distinction and grandly satirical swipes at foodies and oenophiles. Her masterwork “We Need to Talk About Kevin” wrought revelation and surprise from the story of a mass murderer already in prison when the novel opens, the climactic event announced before the first chapter is finished. Shriver is an expert of prolonged suspense, her books typically running a fleet 400 pages. If that sounds off-putting, keep in mind who’s in control. Shriver is the first to allow an upfront executive decision on currency to precipitate all the action that follows. While fiction writers from Anthony Trollope (repeatedly) to John Lanchester (in 2012’s “Capital”) have made the economy a fulcrum for crucial plot points, it’s likely that Ms. Lionel Shriver has described her novels-this is her 12th-as “thematically peripatetic.” She has intrepidly varied settings and subjects over her 30-year career, taking on school shootings (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”), obesity and health care in the United States (“Big Brother”), snooker and terrorism in the United Kingdom (“The Post-Birthday World”), demography and matriarchy in Africa (“Game Control”), and now financial collapse in the future. ‘Insightful and darkly funny’ Good Housekeeping ‘A scary, depressing and convincing horror story’ Spectator ‘It's scaring the hell out of me’ TRACY CHEVALIER By the end, The Mandibles had got under my skin’ Evening Standard ‘Shriver really makes you think about the nature of money. ‘A provocative and very funny page-turner’ Wall Street Journal ‘A sharp social eye and a blistering comic streak. Shriver’s intelligence, mordant humour and vicious leaps of imagination all combine to make this a novel that is as unsettling as it is entertaining’ Financial Times Prescient, imaginative and funny, it also asks deep questions’ The Economist ‘A powerful work investigating the fragility of the financial world. I don’t remember the last time a novel held me so enduringly in its grip’ The New York Times establishes her firmly as the Cassandra of American letters. frankly terrifying’ SARAH CHURCHWELL, Best Books of the Summer, Guardian

‘A gleeful nightmare, it made me snort with laughter even as I was shuddering’ SARAH WATERS, Best Books of the Summer, Guardian if the test of a futuristic novel is its eerie proximity to the present, this passes with flying colours’ Daily Mail ‘Shriver is fast becoming the go-to novelist for some of the big issues. ‘All too chillingly plausible.profoundly frightening’ Observer ‘A tale that fizzes with ideas and jokes. ‘As ever, Shriver cuts close to the bone!.

Praise for THE MANDIBLES: A Family, 2029–2047

Lionel shriver the mandibles review