Lionel Asbo is the tale of a delightedly thuggish criminal who wins a fortune on the lottery, a protagonist who puts immense effort into keeping on the wrong side of the law in the grotty, vicious, and fictional London Borough of Diston town. Lionel works in debt collection, and goes to jail regularly for extortion and burglary. When he is not in prison, he lives with his two pit-bull terriers, Jek (for Jekyll and Hyde) and Jak (Jack the Ripper). To get the dogs good and angry, he feeds them bottles of Tabasco acquired by his orphaned 15-year-old nephew, Des, who is both the novel's narrator and Lionel's counterweight. Des craves order, education and affection—which is why he is having an affair with his granny, and Lionel's mother, Grace. Two questions drive the plot: what will happen when Lionel discovers that Des is sleeping with his mother? And how will life change when Lionel wins nearly £140m from the lottery? Roaming up and down the British class system like only Amis can do, Lionel Asbo is an exuberant, acidic satire of modern society and celebrity culture by a renowned author at the height of his powers.

External Link »