The House of Rumour

Spies, science-fiction writers, and new wave icons populate this dazzling novel, which U.K. critics have already compared to such modern classics as Don DeLillo's "Underworld." According to the" Guardian" ""The ""House of Rumour" perhaps most resembles "The Da Vinci Code, " rewritten by an author with the gifts of characterisation, wit, and literacy." Jake Arnott's decade-spanning, continent-hopping novel mixes fascinating real-life figures with fictional characters as it moves briskly from WWII spy intrigue (featuring Ian Fleming) and occultism (Aleister Crowley) to the West Coast pulp science-fiction set (Philip K. Dick, Robert A. Heinlein -- even L. Ron Hubbard) and the '80s U.K. new wave music scene.

Larry Zagorski, a S.F. writer turned U.S. fighter pilot, searches for connections between what seem like disparate events while conspiracy theories begin to suggest the possibility of a single force behind them.

Jake Arnott has written smart, best-selling crime fiction in the U.K. for years, but "The""House of Rumour" marks an exciting shift -- it's a genre-melding modern classic.