M Against M - Declan Tan - Bog

Self-proclaimed outsider, Arthur Sonntag, has proudly placed himself on the fringes of a contemptible society. But now, after desperately trying to follow in his literary heroes' footsteps and write something immortal, he finds himself struggling to write. Piece by piece, crippled by his mediocrity and consumed by his lust for success, Arthur's mind starts to unravel... A wave of political unrest sweeps through the city. Protests. Kidnappings. Suicides. Every event documented by the all-seeing eye of the newswire, Metropolis. Now the newswire is recruiting... On the edge of despair, Arthur desperately wants in. Anywhere. Meanwhile, in his high window, a shadowy insider dreams of just the opposite. To save what remains of his sanity, the insider wants out. Once a paragon of the Metropolis elite, now he hides himself away, to escape the waking death of his working life. Alone, he starts to write. But through his window he notices bizarre scenes in the building across. Steadily, he drifts into obsession. Steadily, he drifts into madness.
*** By turns a paranoid mystery, existential thriller, and postmodern satire, M Against M is a timely and harrowing look at modern media, and the professionals who run them.