The Melior Trilogy

If you like the satire of Dave Eggers, the social commentary of Lionel Shriver or Andrew O’Hagan, or the dystopian vision of Margaret Atwood, you will like The Orange Man.

Like a modern-day Dr Frankenstein, Gus secretly creates online influencers. There’s GoneSolo the daring rooftopper, CaryMary the pouting do-gooder and even a podcast, See Both Sides, pitching together anonymous celebrities with diametrically opposed views to find common ground. When, as an experiment, this time with his friends, he creates Tom Bone, The Orange Man, they have no idea of the monster they have created. The more repugnant they try to make him, the more followers he gets. To kill him off, they announce his intention to run for President. Surely no one will take him seriously? But Chuck Attar, a billionaire with a shadowy agenda and bottomless pockets has other ideas. What started as an online jape becomes a flesh and blood struggle, threatening Gus’ family, friends, democracy and truth itself. A dark, bitingly funny satire meets psychological thriller, The Orange Man will leave you questioning whether anything you believe is real and what to do about it.

The Orange Man is much more than a satire on Trump and modern-day America.  It explores the febrile and increasingly online world of competing echo chambers everywhere, where truth belongs to the loudest shouters, where big business pulls the strings and manipulation is all too easy.  By turns discomforting and funny, it challenges us all to stop handwringing and to start paying more attention to social dislocation and the ease with which it can be exploited for power.

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