This is a new novel by the author of Children's Day, his hugely successful debut novel, published by Jonathan Ball last year.

Nicholas Morris is a fundamentally decent chap who likes order. He and his 'sort-of' girlfriend, Leonora, share a relationship that is comforting in its sameness, and he is ensconced in a well-paid career as an environmental lawyer.

He is not aware of feeling much dissatisfaction with his lot, until he realises he has forgotten to vote in South Africa's first democratic elections - because he was seeing to the long-overdue mowing of his lawn! With a jolt Nicholas is aware how dull his life is, despite the efforts of his flamboyantly gay colleague Gerhard.

When he takes on a case to save the baboons of Cape Point from ruthless developers, he becomes drawn into intrigues involving a suave liberal judge, dinosaurs of the old regime, and the full cast of the wealthy Tomlinson family, and its golden boy heir.

When the baboons are captured for experimentation by a sinister research institute, from the Old South Africa, he finds himself sucked into a whirlpool of deceit and soon is not only struggling with his own identity, but fighting for his life.

The Reluctant Passenger is a hugely entertaining and intelligent comic novel set in contemporary Cape Town. The rainbow nation begins to unravel in a hilarious riot of traffic chaos, ecological mayhem and sexual discovery. The author's quiet intellect and dry humour make this novel a wonderfully satisfying romp, a good story with depth and sincerity.