The End of Everything Author: M. John Harrison ISBN-13: 9781800812963Publisher: Serpent’s Tail Guideline Price: £16.99A crisis has occurred, but what that means is anybody’s guess. Following the arrival of the iGhetti, an interplanetary entity that leaked in through the astral plane, things have changed for the worse, though how exactly is unclear.Survivors yearn for a time when “the world was still good … before the crisis changed everything”, but what have they survived, and what has changed? A whole continent has inexplicably been lost and military action against the oblique iGhetti is ongoing, but in the United Kingdom, the fighting is limited to London’s financial district.Elsewhere, things are oddly familiar. The tourism industry still functions, cafes and hotels keep their doors open. It’s a world that’s all the more uncanny on account of its proximity to our own.Phillip Tennant’s life as a beachcomber comes to an end one day when he uncovers an old iGhetti artefact, a rapidly evolving artificial intelligence that mimics organic behaviour. Failed attempts to sell it and tense interactions with his eccentric aunt Marnie all but exhaust the narrative of M John Harrison’s latest novel, The End of Everything. Marnie slices the femoral artery of a child who fell through her roof after urinating on her. Phillip destroys the base of a lunatic who is using his parents’ corpses to intercept iGhetti transmissions. Such slapstick set pieces will linger long after reading, but as isolated scenes – “evidence of an aimless energy” – rather than events leading up to anything. The external effects of the crisis are foggy, but “no one’s dream is mapping on the market anymore” and in the absence of any raison d’être, the characters here dart around the novel at random like atomic particles. “Like old comedy films, [their actions] seemed to lack meaningful social markers.”Harrison’s rudderless spin on the post-apocalyptic story is a novel depiction of end times. Toying with staples of the genre, The End of Everything is both a lingering exploration on the psychological effects of planetary destruction and humanity’s tendency to turn a blind eye.[ After the Fall by Ian Shapiro: Thought-provoking guide to how the world got into this messOpens in new window ]Unfortunately, in capturing a world that’s shed its values, Harrison offers a stop-start narrative populated by characters operating outside of a recognisable “emotional structure”, making it hard for readers to properly engage with the text. It’s a memorable, haunting work, but who it’s for exactly is unclear.Colm McKenna is a writer based in Paris