John Lanchester, award winning author of 4 novels, a memoir, and 2 books about economics, is a very versatile writer. This latest, quite short novel is no less impactful for its brevity and readability. It's set in what may be a very near future. Young people are required to spend 2 years patrolling the Wall, defending it agains mysterious Others. To say too much more would be to spoil the plot and scenario. It's enough to say that everyone should read this book - it's hypnotic, revelatory, profound and disturbing; it's about a broken world, almost like our own, and it's about why the young should not trust the old.