We’re very happy to report that today Daryl Gregory‘s superb new novel, AFTERPARTY, arrives in UK bookstores! Published by Titan Books, the novel has already received a great deal of praise from peers and critics alike. First up, here’s the synopsis…

A near-future science fiction crime story about murder, drugs, neuroscience, more drugs, and God. It’s Elmore Leonard and Philip K. Dick road-tripping down neural pathways, with Hunter S. Thompson howling in the back seat.

‘Numinous’ opens up a portal to God – or, at least, a convincing illusion of one. In a world where God is a drug, one woman has to get sober. Lyda Rose was one of the four neuroscientists who helped create Numinous, a breakthrough drug intended to treat schizophrenia. Since unwittingly overdosing on the drug, Lyda has been haunted by visions of an angel she calls Dr. Gloria. Treated in an asylum, Lyda has to remind herself that the doctor is merely a drug- induced manifestation of her own temporal lobe, but the angel is awfully hard to argue with. Afterparty follows Lyda’s investigation into a series of Numinous-like overdoses. It is also about the ways that our brains can fool us, often for our own benefit.

Along the way the book asks twenty-first century questions: If personality, sexual orientation, religious belief, and morality can be chemically twisted, what is the self? Does free will exist? And is sin even possible?

And here’s just a small selection of the praise…

‘AFTERPARTY is a new, excellent science fiction novel by Daryl Gregory, about drugs, God, sanity, morals, and organized crime… Gregory is a great plotter, and the story races along like a thriller, but mountains more substance than your typical thriller.’ — Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

‘This taut, brisk, gripping narrative, dazzlingly intercut with flashbacks and sidebars, oozes warmth and wit. A hugely entertaining, surprising and perhaps prophetic package that, without seeming to, raises profound questions about the human mind and the nature of perception.’ — Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘Smart, funny, fast, more than a little terrifying…. An exhilarating read.’ — Kim Stanley Robinson (Hugo Award Winning author of the Mars Trilogy)

‘Gregory dashes off his near-future story like a “chemjet” printing out sheets of smart drugs…The tragi-comical satire dispenses with sermons and easy morals, preferring to be entertaining and thought-provoking instead.’ — Publishers Weekly

AFTERPARTY is published in the US by Tor Books.

Zeno represents Daryl Gregory in the UK and Commonwealth, on behalf of the Martha Millard Literary Agency.