A fascinating book with a complex plot that examines what it means to love and to be human. Charlie purchases a lifelike artificial human, Adam, in a 1980's alternative London. Charlie and his girlfriend Miranda enter the parameters of Adam's personality and an unfailingly "good" and logical being develops. Against the backdrop of major political events, and including the rape of Miranda's best friend, Adam judges and shockingly resolves the bad behavior of his owners.

Overall I liked the novel, but was offended by what Miranda does to avenge the rape of her friend Mariam, and which feels like artifice. Miranda's method of entrapping the rapist legitimizes the fact that women are so often not believed when they accuse someone of rape. This plot element is central to the book and it would have to have been written very differently without it, but it still rankles.