A Week in December - Sebastian Faulks

Structured like a thriller, A Week in December takes place over the course of a single week at the end of 2008.

Set in London, it brings together an intriguing cast of characters whose lives apparently run on parallel lines but - as gradually becomes clear - are intricately related. The central anti-hero, John Veals, is a shadily successful and boundlessly ambitious Dickensian character who is trading billions.

The tentacles of Veals's influence encompass newspaper columnists, MPs, businessmen, footballers, a female tube driver, a Scottish convert to Islam, a disaffected teenager, and a care worker, whose different perspectives build up a tale of love, family and money as the story builds to its powerful climax.