This book is... complicated. It reminds me of when somebody rang up Raymond Chandler when they were making a film of Farewell, My Lovely and couldn't follow the plot. He said, 'Don't ask me. How should I know?'
   Quite. I expect Gnomon does hang together, but I didn't have the zillion hours needed to try to follow every strand of the plot. But here's the thing - I still enjoyed it. There are great characters, and you soon get to choose some favourites that you especially enjoy reading about. There are great situations, and every now and then... zing! … something ties up and you feel like cheering. No doubt I missed most of the zings, but I still thought the book was a good read. Good enough that I shall be putting 'Books by Nick Harkaway' on my birthday list.
   So you could do worse that buy a copy of Gnomon. Just don't expect to understand it!