Apocalyptic, funny and disturbing, The Rule Of War tracks the near future as four young women, gifted and ambitious, compete for self-fulfilment and fame. A satire on the pretensions of high culture, the novel's characters are drawn from an artistic community no less venal and grasping than the bankers and speculators they despise. T

he novel looks forward to an Ireland of 2016 when a renewed demand for national identiy fights a dirty war with social unrest and hysterical anxiety.