McEwan goes back to the future - and just about pulls it off

Ian McEwan is turning his considerable storytelling energies to counterfactual fiction, like Philip Roth and Robert Harris before him

Ian McEwan: the writer is developing a taste for the high concept PIc: Getty

Fiction: Machines Like Me (And People Like You), By Ian McEwan, Jonathan Cape, €17.50

Much of the power in dystopian or speculative fiction lies in the tantalising thought of what might be just around the corner for modern society. The near-future is brimful of intrigue and potential: it may look rather like today, albeit with a few seismic modifications.

Eighteen books in, and Ian McEwan is turning his considerable storytelling energies to counterfactual ...