I read this some years back, over the course of a few shifts at KFC. Not his best work, but there's certainly a place for fast-paced novels one can read in the staff room (closet) at their min wage job. In fact, I think reading this while cooped up in the kitchen of a fast food restaurant complemented the novel brilliantly. I believe Ballard later dismissed this work, having written it in about two weeks to get the cash needed to leave his job and write The Drowned World. Regardless, it introduces many of the themes he revisits later.