'Why should I let you write about me?' 'Because you'll inspire people. To count their blessings.'

Aldo Benjamin, relentlessly unlucky in every aspect of life, has always faced the future with despair and optimism in equal measure. His latest misfortune, though, may finally have brought him undone. There's still hope, but not for Aldo.

His mate Liam hasn't been doing much better – a failed writer with a rocky marriage and a dangerous job he never wanted – until he finds inspiration in Aldo's exponential disaster. What begins as an attempt to document these improbable but inevitable experiences becomes a profound exploration of fate, fear and friendship.

Wildly entertaining and acutely insightful, Quicksand is a subversive portrait of 21st-century existence in all its hypocrisy and absurdity, an exquisite interpretation of suffering and resilience, and a compelling story about the taking of risks and the making of art.

'A wonderful achievement from a writer whose words serve as a scalpel to reveal the absurd beneath the veneer of serious existence.' Russell Prize for Humour Writing

'The energy, the hairpin turns, the narrative crashes, the stomach churning ascents and trashed taboos: what a joy to surrender oneself to a writer of such prodigious talent.' Peter Carey, Booker Prize-winning author

'The funniest novel of the past year . . . Genuinely moving.' The Saturday Times (UK)

'Quicksand proves to be the cherry on the cake – a beguiling novel that confounds and astonishes in equal measure, often on the same page . . . Part Chuck Palahniuk, part David Foster Wallace . . . Quicksand has a thousand dazzling throwaway moments of brilliance . . . A tour de force.' Australian Book Review