The Afterparty by Leo Benedictus.

A young subeditor, Michael, is invited to a fashionable London birthday party for celebrity movie star Hugo Marks. Suddenly he finds himself among models, movie stars, wannabes and rock musicians and as the evening progresses he is invited to an after party. Here, he encounters the hedonistic lifestyle and the ups and downs of the world of celebrities.

His story is told through an elusive author William McKenzie who tries to get a novel published. McKenzie, who is reluctant to meet with his publisher in person and thus insists on only contacting her through email, gradually reveals more and more sleaze, intrigue and moral decay revolving around the encounters at the afterparty. Yet, as the novel progresses (both McKenzie’s and Bennedictus’), it becomes more evident, that there is a perfectly good reason for McKenzie’s elusive ways..

The Afterparty is a remarkable novel in which the reader is thrown further and further into a well written whirlwind of dishonesty, excitement and satirical and perceptive comments on modern life at the beginning of the 21^st century.