‘I think the Enron story is so fascinating because people perceive it as a story that’s about numbers,’ says writer Bethany McLean at the start of the movie Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. ‘But in reality, it’s a story about people.’ Judging by Union Atlantic, Adam Haslett would agree. On one level, his is a novel about business, banking and fraud. But Haslett demonstrates that he is one of those rare writers who can cover staggeringly diverse territory with almost frightening ease. He can write about both the unfolding horror of a war crime in the Persian Gulf and a vault of gold beneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with unwavering conviction; he seems equally at home evoking a teenager’s first real sexual experience as depicting an ostentatious garden party that is at turns tense, hilarious and disturbing.

It makes for highly entertaining reading because, at its core, Union Atlantic is about a lot more than the power of money. It’s also a story about humanity, memory and history – it’s a story about people.