The Afterparty

A story within a story within a reality with a broken fourth wall all about our relationship with celebrity? Yes please. I can't tell you too much about the plot of this book. Neither can the reviewer. And Leo Benedictus - the actual writer of this fine debut, not Leo Benedictus the Guardian journalist or Leo Benedictus, one of the characters in the debut novel by Guardian journalist Leo Benedictus, really doesn't want you to have too much spoiled.

This book is full of neat tricks and all we can tell you is: an author submits a manuscript to an agent called Publicity****. The agent loves it and wants more. Publicity***** is about an afterparty at an A list celebrity's house, where a journalist finds himself embroiled in a decadent plot of sex, drugs and death. The Afterparty itself is about the relationship between author and audience. The Afterparty is about the true nature of celebrity behind the looking glass of tell-all magazines and constant celebrity surveillance.

Confused? You won't be, reading this book. It zips along at a relentlessly fun, fast, funny pace. The reviewer is trying his hardest to not spoil this book for you. Post-modern, modern, postal and funny, this is a confident debut from a writer called Leo Benedictus, and that's just what the author Leo Benedictus wrote about his book within a book within the book.

Confused? You won't be.