The Coincidence Engine

Sam Leith’s debut novel is an entertaining romp through a paranoid America, a paranoid tech-savvy packet of ideas, much like if Douglas Adams wrote The X Files.

The Red Queen, head of super-secret organisation, the Department of the Extremely Improbable has taken an interest in seemingly disparate coincidences: A hurricane in Alabama assembles a 737 passenger jet out of junkyard waste with a male stripper at its helm; a crazy mathematician in the French Pyrenees has unleashed a devastating device that plays havoc with probability; Cashpoints give out free money; Narcoleptics in Mississippi fall asleep in unison while crossing roads. Somewhere there is a link.

All these coincidences are centres between an oblivious maths student, Alex Smart, and DEI agents chasing him across country.

The book zips along at a frenetic pace, embracing all the archetypes of the road trip, from strange roadside characters, to gut-crunching snacks and all inbetween. While the zaniness is certainly in danger of over-egging the book in the opening chapters, it soon settles into a rhythm and lets its characters breath, making this an enjoyable romp through the heart of America.