Fresh, sharp and wickedly funny, a tragicomic tale of millennial life from the author of Submarine .
Ray's life is not going to plan. He's just cheated on his heavily pregnant wife. He secretly despises all of his friends. His career as a freelance tech journalist is dismal and he spends his afternoons churning out listicles in his pants. But Ray is about to learn that no matter how low you sink, things can always get worse...
The Adulterants is an uproarious tale of competitively sensitive men and catastrophic open marriages, riots on the streets of London and Internet righteousness, and one man's valiant quest to come of age in his thirties. With lacerating wit and wry affection, Joe Dunthorne dissects the urban millennial psyche of a man too old to be an actual millennial.
About the Author
Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea. His poetry has been featured on BBC Channel 4 and Radio 3; he has perfored at festivals including Hay-On-Wye and Latitude. Now twenty-six, Joe lives in London. Submarine is his first novel.
Industry Reviews
There is a chortle-inducing moment on almost every page... Dunthorne is not only one of contemporary fiction's funniest voices but also one of its most generous and perceptive * The Irish Times *
Dunthorne is a superbly economical writer... He is also properly funny. There are several snort-through-your-nose moments. But throughout, the novel's comedy is always balanced by insight and poignancy * Observer *
The Adulterants is thrust-the-book-at-the-person-next-to-you hilarious * New Statesman *
Joe Dunthorne is one of our best young writers * Metro *
Bristles with a deliciously sour, dyspeptic humour and is excellent at skewering the lifestyle habits of a liberal-minded middle-class * Daily Mail *
Perfectly formed... a pin-sharp skewering of a certain type of modern urban thirtysomething male, trapped in a protracted adolescent state. It's one not to be missed * Bookseller *
The Adulterants, from its punning title onwards, is brilliantly knowing about its knowingness. It knows the only way we'll tolerate a narrator as annoying as Ray is to punish him for the very virtues that make him a good narrator - nosiness and eloquence * Guardian *
A sharp satire of contemporary London and the modern urban male * Tatler *
Blisteringly funny and brimming with caustic charm - a joyous diagnosis of our modern ills that made me laugh out loud even when it was breaking my heart * Paul Murray *
Dark, beautifully wry, and side-splittingly excruciating, The Adulterants is a triumph of voice and vision * Tea Obreht *
A tale of modern manhood, full of malaise, melancholy and wryly funny observations * S Magazine *
A richly illuminating comedy of disappointment, uproarious and mournful, that places Joe Dunthorne triumphantly in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh and (that other Swansea resident) Kingsley Amis. A deft, brilliant, surprising joyride * The Art Desk *
Joe Dunthorne's new book is a pleasure - I was very fortunate to get to read his book Submarine early and reading this one was equally thrilling. I owe him a great deal ( but refuse to repay him) * Richard Ayoade *
Smartly written, The Adulterants riffs on London's housing crisis, competitively sensitive men and social media with wry insight * Book Riot *