Armadillo

From the award-winning author of A Good Man Africa and An Ice-Cream War comes Armadillo, a brilliant satirical noir set in contemporary London.

To his colleagues, Lorimer Black, the handsome, mild-mannered insurance adjuster rising through the ranks of his London firm, is known as the guy who has it all: the sleek suits, the enviable status. But when Lorimer arrives at a routine business appointment and finds his client hanging from a water pipe, his life spirals out of control. His company car is blowtorched after he investigates a fire at a luxury hotel. He becomes the fall guy of a new colleague who puts the company in the red and the victim of a vicious attack by the possessive husband of a mysterious actress.
As Lorimer becomes increasingly entangled in an apparent conspiracy that involves everyone he knows, his own past comes to light. A brilliant satirical noir, Armadillo confirms Boyd's place as England's most versatile, sublime novelist.

"[T]his novel is everything good fiction should be." —The Washington Post Book World

"Combines a touch of Dickensian realistic comedy with a Kafkaesque sense of modern urban terror. . . . [William Boyd] has a rare talent." —The Baltimore Sun

"Boyd has a frisky style . . . that will keep you chortling . . . all the way to the end." —The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"The storytelling talents that marked Mr. Boyd's earlier books are fully in evidence in this entertaining novel." —The New York Times