Hari Kunzru — Gods Without Men

Hamish Hamilton 2011 Paperback, 424pp. 2008. The California desert. A four-year-old autistic boy, Raj Matharu, disappears in the wilderness, plunging his wealthy New York parents into the surreal public hell of a media witch-hunt. But the desert is inexplicable and miraculous, and the Matharus' fate is bound up with that of others: a debauched British rock star, on the run from a failed relationship and the sordid excesses of his life; a former member of an extraterrestrial-worshipping cult, now middle-aged but still haunted by transcendent callings; and a teenage Iraqi refugee, who befriends a young black Marine while playing the role of 'Iraqi villager' in a military simulation exercise. Their lives converge in an odd, remote town, near a rock formation called The Pinnacles -- and among the tangled echoes and stories of all those who have travelled before them through this brutally powerful landscape.A branching and multilayered novel by one of our most acclaimed writers, and a compulsively readable journey into the twists and turns of a handful of human lives, Gods Without Men is a heartfelt exploration of our search for pattern and meaning in a random and chaotic universe. (ISBN: 9780241143117). Good.