Martin Amis

He started out swinging -- those first four books in his 20s just got stronger and stronger -- Rachel Papers, Dead Babies, Success and then, well the slight dip of Other People He started out swinging -- those first four books in his 20s just got stronger and stronger -- Rachel Papers, Dead Babies, Success and then, well the slight dip of Other People. Then came the three big books -- there was Money which established him completely as the voice of his already crowded generation -- McEwan, Hitchens, Rushdie, Barnes -- then The Information, which built on that success, and then, in 1995, The Information. And then? Then he went insane. Then he got a big agent, broke with Julian Barnes. Got new teeth. Got a new wife. Hung out in the Hamptons. Chain smoked and played tennis, gave profiles to glossy magazine, got million dollar advances that failed to work out. He got Americanised, seduced by the notion of literary success. And now? Dim, sad little books that take on the media and Islamic fascists. Perhaps the upcoming Pregnant Widow will change all that.