Owen Harris

In the late 1990s middle class British brothers Sam and Dan Houser and two friends, all video game enthusiasts, devise a violent new game Grand Theft Auto, set in a fictionalized America and appearing to reward a car thief for murdering anybody who gets in the way of his crimes. In Britain the Police Federation brands it as sick and contemptible whilst politician Hillary Clinton accuses it of "stealing the innocence of our children." Most vocal of its critics is crusading Florida lawyer Jack Thompson who, in the wake of an Alabama teen-ager going on a killing spree and blaming the game, attempts to get it banned, bringing a court action against the Housers and their company Rockstar Games, now based in San Diego. However Thompson's public denunciation of the game is instrumental in determining the outcome of the court case.

An A&R man working at the height of the Britpop music craze goes to extremes in order to find his next hit.