Model Citizens

''Shand has fashioned a gripping and original story - and he writes like a dream'' The Times

''It has the pace and dynamism of a thriller ... and his social commentary is funny and on target'' The Herald

And how to tell what the best things were? Well, that was easy: the best things were the ones with the most people looking at them.

Alastair Buchanan has a comfortable life. It''s been a year since he received his very own junior - a clone designed to help him escape the daily grind. So why does Alastair spend his days alone, online, obsessing over his status? When his long-term girlfriend Caitlin can''t take it anymore, Alastair does his best to hold it together. But then, a remnant from his past appears and he is forced to confront the level of control that technology has over his life.

Elsewhere, an anti-tech terrorist cell dedicated to yanking humanity back to the 1990s is building momentum. And looming over everyone is Kim Larson, inventor of the juniors. But when Kim realises that humanity''s future lies in the stars, who will be left to hold him to account?

From award-winning author Daniel Shand, Model Citizens explores a surreal world peopled by humans struggling with their dehumanising present. Full of suspense, it asks us what we give up when we exist online, and who we can trust to take care of us. Model Citizens is a subversive and darkly comic story of class, technology, and responsibility, offering a vision of the future that may be closer than we realise.

''A dazzling novel'' Edmund Gordon, award-winning author

''A consumerist hellscape is brilliantly evoked . . . the cloned self as ultimate consumer product is a compelling idea and Shand has such fun with it that the reader gets carried along'' Irish Times