After five years of legal formalities in Pickax, Jim Qwilleran has officially inherited the Klingenschoen fortune. In search of a summer's peace, Qwill and his two cats head for the Potato Mountains. But Qwill finds controversy and one of the locals has been imprisoned for murder.

Sangaman Taylor is Boston's modern-day Paul Revere, spreading the word from a 40-horsepower Zodiac raft. Embarrassing powerful corporations in highly telegenic ways is the perfect method of making enemies, and Taylor has a collection that would do any rabble-rouser proud.

Tyrone O'Shaugnessy Tierwater, suburban drudge, is manager of an antiquated shopping centre in New York. His life is changed dramatically by his marriage to Andrea, a well-known environmental activist. Flashing forward to 2025, Tyrone is now manager of a pop star's private animal menagerie.

It is the seventies, at the height of flower power. Star has just joined Drop City, a hippie commune in sunny California living the simple, natural life. But underneath the drugs, music and transcendent bliss, she slowly discovers tensions and sexual rivalries that threaten to split the community apart.

The undisputed master of the high-concept thriller has written his most gripping and entertaining book yet

J.G. Ballard -- author of 'Crash' and 'Empire of the Sun' -- explores the dangers of extremism in ecology and feminism in this highly acclaimed modern fable.