This twice Booker nominated author has an enviable reputation, and his latest features a truly impressive bit of world-building. Actually, scratch that. Let’s go with: world-dismantling. It’s sometime in the future and the world has suffered catastrophic ecological breakdown. In Australia, the (unnamed) narrator lives with his mother; and the two eek out an existence in a sun-blasted landscape. Every year, when summer hits, it’s too hot to be outside so the pair must live in shelters beneath the ground. The narrator’s routine is broken up one day when he’s recruited by The Service, a shadowy organisation who seek to find, and kill, those they deem responsible for the Earth’s current plight. This epic tale – told mostly in flashback – unfurls at a leisurely pace, but the day-to-day sections grip just as much as the action set-pieces, which punctuate the narrative. ‘Juice’ is often thrilling, but it’s also frightening given that the world it depicts is all too plausible. RM