Noughties by Ben Masters

 

Tonight's a special night.  Eliot Lamb and his crew of friends are celebrating the end of their time at Oxford and their entry into adulthood.  Eliot isn't sure what's next for him; two of his friends are taking a year to travel and others are starting careers.  There's Eliot's best friend, Jack, two other guys Scott and Sanjay, Ella, the girl both Eliot and Jack think they might love and a few other girls.  Together they go out to celebrate.

There is a code of celebration.  First they go to the pub for preliminary drinks.  Then to the bar for more serious ones and then to the club where they indiscriminately drink and dance.  Both Eliot and Jack want to use this night to make their case to Ella.  The two friends have had a strained year as both pursue her and both think tonight might be the night.  Eliot is also still emotionally involved with his first girlfriend, Lucy, and he's really not sure which he would like to have.

The author of this debut novel was twenty-five when he wrote it in 2012.  It's sad to think that college life is such an alcoholic event for so many but that seems to be the culture in England and other college venues.  Ella holds a dark secret.  Both Eliot and Jack believe they are the cause but the reader will soon see through the clues to who is responsible for Ella's secret.  I'd be interested to read another novel from Masters now that he is in his thirties and see how his writing has changed.  This book is recommended to readers of literary fiction.