Stark, the hero of the story, lives in Colour, a neighbourhood whose inhabitants like to be co-ordinated with their surroundings – a neighbourhood where spangly purple trousers are admired by the walls of buildings as you pass them. Close by is Sound, where you mustn’t make any, apart from one designated hour a day when you can scream your lungs raw. Then there’s Red – get off at Fuck Station Zero if you want to see a tactical nuclear battle recreated as a sales demo.  Stark has friends in Red, which is just as well because Something is about to happen. And when a Something happens, it’s no good chanting, ‘Duck for cover!’ while cowering in a corner, because a Something is always from the past – in this case, Stark’s past – and it won’t go away until you face it full on.