As manipulative as Cruel Intentions, as competitive as Election, as geeky as Napoleon Dynamite, Elliot Allagash is a wonderfully original take on a much loved genre

Seymour isn't cool, but he isn't a geek either. He's a lonely, obedient 8th grade loser at Glendale, a second tier prep school in Manhattan. His chubbiness has recently earned him the nick name "Chunk Style" and he has resigned himself to a life of isolation. All of this is about to change. After successfully getting himself expelled from every reputable school in the country, Elliot Allagash, the arrogant heir of America's largest fortune, finds himself marooned at Glendale. Try as he may, Elliot cannot get expelled this time; his father has donated too much money. Bitter and bored, Elliot decides to amuse himself by taking up a new hobby: transforming Seymour into the most popular student in school. An unlikely friendship develops between these two loners as Elliot introduces Seymour to new concepts, like power, sabotage and vengeance. With Elliot as his diabolical guide, Seymour gradually learns about all of the incredible things that money can buy, and the one or two things that it can't. Hilarious, ingenious and tightly plotted, Elliot Allagash reminds you what your teens were like, and why growing up is so hard to do.

"A sharp, clever, blisteringly funny debut." - The Times

"A hilarious, high-spirited and hormone-fuelled romp through teenage angst and offbeat antics." - Monocle

"A fantastically ingenious and unique approach to the tale of a turning worm." - Guardian

"Clueless for boys... suspect that, if he had a literary ancestor in mind as he charted Seymour Herson's rise, it was not Austen or [Amy] Heckerling, but Evelyn Waugh... ...studded with rococo set pieces of ruthless masculine one-upmanship... a joy to read... Open the book on the beach or by the lake, and shed a crocodile tear, if you can muster one, for the craven ambition of youth." - The Daily Beast

"Imaginative premises abound. . . . As unpredictable as YouTube, as in your face as MySpace" - Publishers Weekly

"Rich is always funny, and he nails the bogus solemnity of high-school social politics. A high-school romp that John Hughes should be so lucky to direct" - Kirkus Reviews

"An unfailingly funny and compulsively readable mix of sweet and sour that will leave readers hoping for another helping" - Booklist

"Savagely funny" - New York Times

"Funnyman Simon Rich gives Pygmalion a makeover in his debut novel, Elliot Allagash." - Vanity Fair

"Simon Rich's absurdist approach to the underdog archetype makes for a hilarious and heartwarming romp." - USA Today

"A teenage billionaire collides with a high school loner in Rich's amusing look at growing up. Diabolical Elliot Allagash decides to turn loser Seymour into the most popular kid at school, with delightful consequences." - Waterstone's Books Quarterly

"A hilariously satiric novel peppered with innovative anecdotes... the comedy is fast-paced and enthralling... laugh-out-loud... While many find it difficult to translate their comedy from the stage to the page, Rich demonstrates that not only is he capable of doing so, he's good at it too." - The List

"If ever a book seemed custom-made for adaptation into a successful teen movie, the debut novel from Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich is it. The plot is like that of the greatest film John Hughes never made: less Ferris Bueller's Day Off, more Ferris Bueller's Adolescence Off... a winning comic formula. Peppered with riotous teen angst - and effortlessly readable - this is a novel that one consumes like a pleasantly tangy packet of crisps." - Daily Mail

"If you love teen flicks like Mean Girls and Clueless, welcome to their literary equivalent. Cool, smart and laugh-out-loud funny." - Heat

"An excellent novel from a rising comedic star." - Sunday Business Post

"Rich is intimately familiar with the subject, and nails everything. The novel is assured, deft in its rendering of teen relationships and, perhaps more remarkably, funny without resorting to the kind of gross-out humour common in this sort of setting. All laughs and no barfs, it's a breezy read." - Guardian