Name: Taylor Embrey's review of Glow by Ned Beauman
Item: Glow
Rating: 4
Author: Taylor Embrey

Ned Beauman

"From one of England's most accomplished young writers: a taut, riveting, compulsively readable novel in which a young man (with a bizarre sleep disorder) uncovers the connections between foxes behaving oddly in London, Burmese people going missing, and glow, the newest recreational drug. South London, May 2010: twenty-two-year-old Raf spends his days looking after Rose, a bull terrier who guards the transmitters for a pirate radio station, and his nights at raves in dingy warehouses and launderettes, where he first hears about the mysterious glow. When a good friend disappears without a trace, Raf's efforts to find him will lead gradually and then suddenly right into the thick of a massive corporate conspiracy. And along the way, he falls in love with a stunningly beautiful young woman, only to discover that there is far more to Cherish than meets the eye. Combining the pace, drama, and explosive plot twists of a thriller with his trademark intellectual, linguistic, and comedic pyrotechnics, Glow is Ned Beauman's most compelling and virtuosic novel yet"--

Glow

Taylor Embrey

'ADDICTIVELY GOOD' The Times 'Over-whelming' Independent 'Supercharged' Evening Standard 'Deliciously, startlingly, exuberantly fresh' Guardian With GLOW, Ned Beauman has reinvented the international conspiracy thriller for a new generation. A hostage exchange outside a police station in Pakistan. A botched defection in an airport hotel in New Jersey. A test of loyalty at an abandoned resort in the Burmese jungle. A boy and a girl locking eyes at a rave in a South London laundrette . . . For the first time, Britain's most exciting young novelist turns his attention to the present day, as a conspiracy with global repercussions converges on one small flat above a dentist's office in Camberwell.

Eleanor Luhar

This is just going to be a quick review of the book I finished last week, Glow. I found it and borrowed it from my local library on a whim because it looked interesting, but I was sort of disappointed. Although I love the scientific references throughout the book I just found it a bit boring, honestly. It was meant to be thrilling and gripping... I just didn't feel that way.

Raf manages to get caught up in some major business involving a new drug, Glow, and a massive corporation called Lacebark. Somehow the mysterious girl he met at a party is also tied up in it, as is the friend of Raf's who recently went missing.

Somehow Raf also meets all the right people along the way, and gets accepted into helping them with their cause. I found this rather unplausable but that's just me, I suppose. My main problem was having no investment in Raf as a character, and not feeling any of his relationships with any other characters to any degree whatsoever. He just didn't feel real enough.

I honestly don't quite get what even happened. Why was Lacebark killing people? Why was Win working for them? I just got a bit lost in the end. It's a shame, because I really liked the amount of biological vocabulary scattered throughout - it made me feel like I'm actually learning things in my Psychology A-Level!

2 to 2.5 stars at a push.

Luke Kanies

I've no idea how to classify this book. Urban noir drug drama? It's not about drugs, but they are the substrate. There's not really any crime in the book, but you sure hear about it.

It does not fit any of the obvious tropes; it's just a guy, living his semi-squatter life, who finds out a friend is in trouble. He follows that thread -- and once is actually quite brave -- and ends up, shockingly, learning more than he bargained for.

I enjoyed that the characters were interested, were flawed, were selfish, but also a bit altruistic. The book does a good job of telling the story from a distance, yet still being somewhat intimate. You know everyone, but you're not, like, attached.

I literally don't know why we own this book; I'm assuming my wife bought it as a mystery, which I normally don't read. In enjoyed it overall, but especially in that context.

Taylor Embrey &
Glow by Ned Beauman

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