Yellow Dog

First edition. 8vo. Pp. [vii], 340. Black cloth boards, lettered in gilt to spine; black endpapers. Dustwrapper design by Stephen Parker (priced £16.99 to front flap).

Signed by Author to title page.

Long-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. A 'dream husband' undergoes a fateful personality change conducive to an alien moral system, following a knock to the head. Amis's tenth novel and first in seven years set in the vicious world of London tabloid journalese. It's hard to overstate the opprobrium gleefully lavished on this book by Amis's peers, with Tibor Fischer's contribution, perhaps the standout: "[Yellow Dog is] not-knowing-where-to-look bad. [...] It's like your favourite uncle being caught in a school playground, masturbating." The Guardian, amongst many dissenters, labelled it a "comic tour de force" and highlighted Amis's "devastating comic gift" in its review by fellow-novelist, Alan Hollinghurst. Comic masterpiece or a 'dog' of a book? You be the judge.