A novel of compassion and and imagination from the virtuosic author of The Echo Maker, Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Powers. Prisoner's Dilemma tells the story of the triumph of the mind over infirmity.

BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED BEWILDERMENT AND THE OVERSTORY

Something is wrong with Eddie Hobson Sr., father of four, sometime history teacher, quiz master, black humourist and virtuoso invalid. His recurring fainting spells have worsened, and with his ingrained aversion to doctors, his worried family tries to discover the nature of his sickness. Meanwhile, in private, Eddie puts the finishing touches on a secret project he calls 'Hobbstown', a place that he promises will save him, the world and everything that's in it.

'Richard Powers is the most intellectually stimulating novelist at work in the English language today... Sentence after sentence has the razor-sharp quality of aphorism about the weird wired world we have made' Daily Telegraph

"A complex treatment of time... An absorbing view of history." - New York Times Book Review

"Enough plot twists and conspiracy-making ingredients to satisfy the most demanding aficionado of the genre." - Irish Times

"Fascinating... Powers has a remarkable ability to find metaphors to illustrate the brain processes... terse and heartbreaking." - Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Grand fiction... Prisoner's Dilemma is magnificent." - The Nation

"I love and admire this book... I cannot give an adequate sense of its many marvels... One of the most beautiful and baffling dialogues in recent fiction." - Boston Globe