It is 2027. France is in a state of economic decline and moral decay.

As the country plunges into a closely-fought presidential campaign, the French state falls victim to a series of mysterious and unsettling cyberattacks. The sophisticated nature of the attacks leaves the best computer scientists at the DGSI – the French counter-terrorism agency – scrambling for answers.

An advisor to the country’s Finance...

It is 2027. France is in a state of economic decline and moral decay.

As the country plunges into a closely-fought presidential campaign, the French state falls victim to a series of mysterious and unsettling cyberattacks. The sophisticated nature of the attacks leaves the best computer scientists at the DGSI – the French counter-terrorism agency – scrambling for answers.

An advisor to the country’s Finance Minister, Paul Raison is close to the heart of government. His wife Prudence is a Treasury official, while his father Édouard, now retired, has spent his career working for the DGSI. When Édouard has a stroke, his children – Cécile, a fervent Catholic; Aurélien, a sensitive artist; and Paul, the government bureaucrat – have an opportunity to repair their strained relationships, as they determine to free their father, who is in a coma, from the medical centre where he is wasting away.

Houellebecq’s latest novel reveals new sides to his writing, adding compassion and tenderness to the emotions of rage, disgust and irony that have powered both him and his earlier works to international fame.