Is this is a great contemporary novelist experimenting with the format of the thriller, or is this a great contemporary novelist prostituting himself by concentrating on something more profitable? Who cares? This is a great and satisfying read.
The central character, Adam, stumbles across a murder, realises that everything points to him as the killer, and makes a split-second decision to run and not tell the police. That requires losing everything - his name, his home, the lucrative job he was about to be offered, his reputation, his passport, his credit cards and bank account, and his mobile phone - never to get them back. He goes underground and joins the ranks of the disappeared and homeless.
Most of the action happens by the River Thames - from affluent Chelsea to the East End. As he tries to keep one step ahead of both the police and a hit man Adam meets a vast range of people, including prostitutes, evangelists and a policewoman. It's about identity and about the hidden underbelly of London life.
It certainly works as a thriller, but it's much more than that.
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