Vince is a telecoms area manager in late middle age going through a divorce Tommy is a prosperous bouncer turned haulier Andy runs a failing B&B with his formidable wife Rhoda. We are introduced to a trio of golfing mates. Brodie is living in modest rural digs, sharing custody of his son Nathan with Julia, getting on with his small life. The book begins a couple of miles north of Whitby. Atkinson roasts the old chestnut of “the banality of evil” by introducing us to evildoers in the round: their small vanities, their pragmatism, their affection for their families and loyalty to their friends. In a way, this is one of the novel’s most serious jokes. And yet, at least to start with, we’re firmly in the ordinary world of suburban golf bores, seaside attractions in one-horse northern towns and a disaffected private detective, dog and sullen teenage son in tow. A trophy wife gets the feeling that someone is following her. Brodie sees a young girl climbing into a strange car and being driven off. There’s the leisurely way in which the fates of Nadja and Katja are left undiscussed. The opening chapters are full of little feints and teases. Sure enough, with the Skype connection severed, we learn that the swanky offices they can see behind “Mr Price” are a stage set.
There’s an excellently sinister opening – in a sort of pre-credits sequence, eastern European sisters Nadja and Katja are Skyping with the representative of an employment agency called Anderson Price Associates, who is arranging to fly them to the UK to take up jobs in high-end hospitality.
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