A biting satire of corruption and repression in modern China. Ian Williams has reported on China for more than 20 years and his debut novel has a lot of fun exploring the cynicism of the country's Kafkaesque system' - The South China Morning Post.

An image goes viral in China. It's posted as a joke by a young blogger, but soon takes on a life of its own. It upends the lives of a delusional British businessman trying to sell the crumbling China miracle, and an American diplomat chasing cyber spies - but mostly and more terrifyingly it threatens the Communist Party, which doesn't have a sense of humour. This gripping novel explores how Internet rumours take on a life of their own in a society where truth and reality are as clear as the thick smog. From Beijing’s smoggy streets to Shanghai’s historic Bund, from the casinos of Macau to the grim factories of southern China, it captures the madness, corruption and dangers of the People’s Republic and sheds light on the Westerners who have grown rich by looking the other way …