The Adulterants is narrated by Ray, a thirty-something freelance tech journalist living with his pregnant wife in North East London, staring down the barrel of long-deferred adulthood. Ray is chronically underachieving and empathy-impaired, a deadpan antihero whom--by the end of the book--readers will end up rooting for, as fatherhood looms and his life implodes.

Throughout a series of escalating catastrophes, he keeps up a merciless mental commentary on the foibles and failings of those around him, and the vicissitudes of modern urban life: internet trolls, sadistic estate agents, open marriages, and the threat posed by more sensitive men. The trick of the book is making you feel empathy for Ray even as you acknowledge that he gets what's coming to him.