BAD NEWS

22 years old and in the grip of a massive addiction, Patrick Melrose is forced to fly to New York to collect his father's ashes. Over the course of the weekend his remorseless search for drugs on the avenues of Manhattan, haunted by old acquaintances and insistent inner voices sends him into a nightmarish spiral. Alone in his room at the Pierre Hotel, he pushes body and mind to the very edge, desperate always to stay one step ahead of his rapidly encroaching past of heroin addiction, alcoholism, marital infidelity and self-destructive behaviour. Open to old or young, vicious, and excruciatingly honest, this popular modern author is highly praised 'as an analyser of broken minds and tired hearts he is as energetic, careful and creative as the perfect shrink.' 'The wit of Wilde, the lightness of Wodehouse and the waspishness of Waugh. A joy.' - Zadie Smith. 242pp, paperback.