Small Paperback, Good Condition, 1999, 501 pages, ISBN 0 349 11018 2

The Job – Douglas Kennedy

Young, smart and upwardly mobile, Ned and Lizzie Allen are relieved to have left their small-town roots behind and finally arrived in sophisticated Manhattan. But when an apparent career break shows its true colours Ned is faced with a serious ethical dilemma as well as the small matter of whether to lie to Lizzie - and he finds himself on the brink of losing everything. It looks like another case of the Death of a Salesman, but Ned gets lucky, thrown a lifeline by a high-flying real-estate tycoon. The only problems? His wife is threatening to leave him and his new job description includes fraud, embezzlement and murder...

"A comic fable masquerading as a contemporary thriller... Kennedy proves himself a master" – Independent on Sunday