Platform

In his new work, Michel Houellebecq combines erotic provocation with a terrifying vision of a world teetering between satiety and fanaticism, to create one of the most shocking, hypnotic, and intelligent novels in years. In his early forties, Michel Renault skims through his days with as little human contact as possible. But following his father's death he takes a group holiday to Thailand where he meets a travel agentthe shyly compelling Valeriewho begins to bring this half-dead man to life with sex of escalating intensity and audacity. Arcing with dreamlike swiftness from Paris to Pattaya Beach and from sex clubs to a terrorist massacre,Platformis a brilliant, apocalyptic masterpiece by a man who is widely regarded as one of the world's most original and daring writers.

Michel Houellebecq’s <b>The Elementary Particles</b>, an international best-seller, won the prestigious Prix Novembre in France as well as the lucrative International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. He lives in Ireland.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>