Lucky Baby Jesus

Journalist Peter Bradshaw made his name for not being Alan Clark in the Evening Standard's spoof diary column, so perhaps it's not surprising that his first novel stars Sean Cunningham, editor of conservative gay rag Somdomite, who, as it happens, is not actually gay. The cynicism of that twist pervades every smoke-filled corner of the book. All the main characters are screamingly fake, from actor Wayne, who plots his career progress on his own "Beaufort Scale of Fame" and his girlfriend progress on "The Emotional Lido"; Ysenda, who occasionally interrupts her hedonistic nightlife to direct the Sacred Heart Institute; and Nick, who made his mark combining Complete Shiatsu Massage with his own brand of psychotherapy. And they all inhabit a capital city hurtling towards the millennium with all its accompanying weird omens and angsty self-regard-in which it's hard to feel much for poor Sean realising he's in love with Ysenda's sister, which won't do his public image much good. Bradshaw has written a fast, witty, endlessly inventive London book which will strike chords throughout the media hangers-on he portrays so knowingly. Enjoy it this summer while it's still hot-this is an emphatically 90s novel, and there ain't much of the 90s left. But there's enough evidence here to suggest that Peter Bradshaw might still be a force to reckon with when Lucky Baby Jesus has become a period piece. --Alan Stewart


Genre: General Fiction