Scott Singer is a devious PR genius - the kind who can lure a bunch of environmentally-conscious women students to a remote Pacific island and persuade them to strip off for the cameras in the belief that they are protesting about the threat posed by developers to a colony of rare seals. In fact, he's been hired by those very developers to drum up publicity for their new beach resort.

His genius for spin earns him the nickname Slick - and a plum job with a record company trying to protect the reputation of their major star, rap artist Hunta. But even the best-laid plans come unstuck, and Slick's brilliant scheme to discredit the woman who is threatening to press rape charges against the star slowly begins to unravel.

Brilliantly written, fast paced, and utterly devastating in the way it deconstructs a lazy media to reveal the hidden marketing messages that underlie much of what passes for news, Slick is a sparkling debut novel. Best of all, Price pulls off the difficult task of making you actually like his anti-hero. A real winner.

Updated: 09:02 Saturday, January 29, 2005