This is probably the book that I have been waiting for the longest. I first read The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall's debut novel, around 12 years ago and was blown away by it. It remains one of my favourite books, thanks to its mystery and complete originality. It was with frustration that I waited for a follow-up to appear and with severe disappointment that I read it.

Hall presents a range of interesting ideas here but, in my opinion, he stretches too far in trying to be clever and tips over into incomprehensibility. Early on, the plot was slow moving and there was too much explanation of concepts. Though I recognised broadly what it was trying to do, the climax just made very little sense to me.

I eagerly await Hall's next novel, which hopefully won't be so far away. I just hope that it will manage to match his ambition

This novel is intriguing and captivating from page one, and I couldn't put it down. It's a mix of biblical references, mystery, and dealing with past trauma.

What are we to make of books that are really just metaphors about writing? On the one hand they can be rather self-indulgent or very occasionally they find a way of plunging deep into the nature of artistic experience, inspiration and creation. The process of serious writing does involve a great deal of soul-searching and, rather like some of Paul Auster’s novels, Stephen Hall uses something of a literary detective plot in Maxwell’s Demon to ‘investigate’ and explore the strange process, purpose and meaning of putting words on a page and putting it out before the public.

The hook is a good one that is irresistible for anyone who is interested in books; Hall creates a great literary mystery around the enigmatic writer of an extraordinary masterpiece of crime fiction, Cupid’s Engine by Andrew Black. More than just a crime novel, Black's only published work has been met with universal acclaim, popularity and success, but for Tom Quinn the book holds even greater depth and meaning, like some key to understanding the workings of the world, and perhaps even hold the answer to a process that can reverse the inevitable progression of time and entropy that governs the physical world. Or something like that.

Tom is the son of Stanley Quinn, a successful novelist in his time who mentored Andrew Black, and Tom is himself a published author. Although he inevitably feels some disappointment that he may not have lived up to his father’s legacy, his own thriller 'The QWERTY Machine' failing to make a mark, Tom is relatively content to keep writing novelisations of popular TV and film franchises, and he has a great idea for a new Captain Scarlett book. Underneath however, you can tell Tom is restless and it’s not just that his wife has been gone for almost three months on a work project, or the strange phone call he heard on his answer machine or even the fact that the bailiffs could be arriving at the door at any moment. After all these years something about Andrew Black and Cupid’s Engine is still eating away at him.

Although Black has disappeared, never delivering a follow-up to his extraordinary debut novel, one day unexpectedly Tom receives a letter in the post from the enigmatic and reclusive writer, the envelope containing a short note and a Polaroid photograph of a black sphere. Ever the arch manipulator, the intention is evidently to intrigue Tom into responding, and despite the warning of Andrew’s former literary agent Sophie Almonds, Tom can’t resist taking up the challenge, particularly when there is the suggestion that a much anticipated second Andrew Black book might exist That’s when things get very strange…

Essentially, Maxwell’s Demon rather ambitiously tries to align the qualities of words on a page with scientific principles, evoking the Second Law of Thermodynamics, atoms, molecules, protons, order and entropy, scientific theories and experiments, biblical apocrypha and all manner of philosophical musing on the relationship between words, writing and life. On one or two occasions this descends into typographical and graphical effects on the page (which might not come across quite as well in eBook format, perhaps intentionally considering the context) to evoke the idea of word-atoms and book-engines and all other manner of literary-nature-scientific crossover.

There’s a balance to be struck between making exploring the nature of writing and books, staking some kind of claim to their having something important to communicate in terms of how they help us view the world, and making this entertaining. Maxwell’s Demon seems to want to be (and has no problem self-referentially acknowledging it) Carlos Luis Zafón’s Shadow of the Wind, Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, John Fowles' The Magus and with its ideas of an infinite ‘universe between two covers’ of Jorge Luis Borges of The Aleph or The Book of Sand. Accordingly, even though its ideas on the power of the written word are intriguing, the chances of enjoying Maxwell’s Demon as purely an entertaining book are limited by the ambition of putting all that into one book.

If you're prepared to go along with the bibliophile, bibliological and theological obsessions and footnotes that allude to some grand world-changing apocalyptic conspiracy theory, there are interesting insights to be found in Maxwell's Demon. You'd need believe however that Andrew Black is some kind of literary genius to be able to get all that into a crime thriller and inevitably Stephen Hall doesn't make that entirely convincing. Maxwell's Demon then is by turns fascinating, infuriating, bewildering and absorbing but seemingly unable to reach beyond the literary and philosophical boundaries of what it is grasping for.

While the methodology is unconvincing and the mystery element of the book ultimately unsatisfying and, frankly, incredible, Maxwell's Demon does I think touch on one fundamental quality of the crossover between literature and life and that's in the need to find some sort of order and meaning. Some find that in the Bible, some seek to recapture the lost innocence of childhood when the world was much simpler. Do books hold everything together? Or words? Maybe there is something essential in narrative and in the etymology of words that holds everything together - even if it's just holding onto our sanity - to help us get through troubled and difficult times. I'm not convinced that Maxwell's Demon has any answers or measures up to its ambitions, but it's certainly an intriguing and thought-provoking work.

Thomas Quinn is a failed novelist. His one original novel, The Qwerty Machine, failed to set the world alight. He now makes a living writing new Doctor Who, Sapphire and Steel, Thunderbirds stories. His father – Dr Stanley Quinn, one of the greatest poets, and journalists of his generation - is dead and his wife Imogen has gone to other side of the world to a small Island with a research team and his contact with her is watching her on a live 24 webcam and talking on the phone. Add to this is also haunted by the fact that his father assistant - Andrew Black - wrote a single, million copy-selling mystery novel - Cupid's Engine - five years ago and then disappeared. Life is not what he'd imagined. But then one day his phone rings and it seems to be a message form his dead father saying "why knocks an angel in Bethlehem"? Soon after, he hears from Black, at which point his life is flipped turned upside down, as the Fresh Prince would have said.

There are twists and reveals – I guessed the main one of these early on – and lots of bonkers fun. What begin with you thinking it could all Dan Brown instead playfully creates its own philosophical mysteries. This is a book about failure; a book about wanting parental validation; a book about the pressures of delivering a follow up novel to a debut novel that has been stratospherically successful; a book about the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the gospels, the nativity (really fascinating stuff!), the history of language and letters, and much more.

On the negative side , the pictorial leaf elements of the book don’t really work (often unreadable) in the ebook format, but that is a very minor gripe, from another sure fired cult classic. Hall proves his first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, was no one-hit-wonder, and already has me waiting, anticipating, where he'll go for novel three.

I'm a sucker for a book about writing and, though perhaps not overwhelmingly original, this was an enjoyable read that I romped through in now time. A great book about ambition as well as so much else.

In my role as English Teacher, I love being able to spend time reviewing books for our school library which I use to help the students make great picks when they visit us as well as running a library junior and senior book group where we meet every week and share the books we love and talk about what makes a great read. This is certainly a book that I'd be happy to display at the front as one of my monthly 'top picks' which often transform into 'most borrowed' between students and staff. It's a great read and ties in with my ethos of wishing to assemble a diverse, modern and thought-provoking range of books that will inspire and deepen a love of reading in our students of all ages. This book answers this brief in spade! It has s fresh and original voice and asks the readers to think whilst hooking them with a compelling storyline and strong characters It is certainly a book that I've thought about a lot after finishing it and I've also considered how we could use some of its paragraphs in supporting and inspiring creative writing in the school through the writers' circle that we run. This is a book that I shall certainly recommend we purchase and look forward to hearing how much the staff and students enjoy this memorable and thought-provoking read.

‘Entropy is what drives time forwards, and only forwards. It’s the reason you can’t un-stir the milk from your coffee, the reason you can smash but can’t un-smash a glass vase, and the reason that if you did smash a glass vase then fixed it really well, somebody might say, ‘it looks as good as new.’ People get old and die over time, stuff gets broken over time. Entropy is the inevitable sliding of all things from an ordered state towards disorder and meaninglessness…’

Five years ago, Andrew Black wrote a best-selling mystery novel and then disappeared. Struggling novelist Thomas Quinn, seemingly stalked by a character from Black’s story, attempts to unfold the mystery of the elusive author.

Maxwell’s Demon is a bizarre blend of detective thriller, lesson on thermodynamics, philosophical journey and a biblical conspiracy. Personally, I quite enjoyed the biblical references and the central mystery, which felt like a cheeky nudge to a Dan Brown novel. I did feel however that in some places the explanations of the Maxwell’s Demon thought experiment and the second law of thermodynamics (though at first very interesting to me) did seem to drag on for just a few too many pages.

Fans of The Raw Shark Texts will enjoy this. Hall cleverly creates an unusual and creative narrative where you are not entirely sure what is real or who to trust. Similar to The Raw Shark Texts, I left this book thinking ‘What on earth did I just read?’ However, I enjoyed the journey regardless.

This was a very off book. There is a central mysterious figure of Andrew Black who haunts the thoughts of our protagonist. There is also a mystery to be solved. The plot is all very complicated and torturous. The thoughts of the main character are transcribed in endless detail and are rambling at best in my opinion. I'm afraid that the ending didn't make much sense to me. I was quite finished with everyone in this book by about a third of the way through and just couldn't get excited by the denouement and the motivations behind it were completely obscure to me. So I don't think I can recommend it.

Much like the protagonist, Thomas Quinn, I spent much of this book not really sure what was going on. The novel is like a hall of mirrors, you catch sight of something, think you know where you’re going, but no, it was a trick or a distortion of reality.

I enjoyed the theme of entropy and thinking about whether decreasing entropy is the same as time travel. I also liked the theme of words in some way causing reality, although some of the philosophy surrounding that got a bit too Biblical for me.

The ending and resolution of the story was preposterously unbelievable, but then again I think it was supposed to be.

A solid three star read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Maxwell's Demon is a kind of weird literary mystery crossed with philosophical questioning, as struggling writer Thomas Quinn tries to work out if the world really is falling apart thanks to hypertext. Five years ago, Andrew Black wrote a bestselling book, a perfectly crafted mystery, and then disappeared. Now, Thomas thinks he might be being stalked by the hero of Black's book whilst his wife Imogen is away. Black is tied up with Thomas's past, both from their acquaintance and through Thomas' father, and Thomas might have to look deeper than expected to find out what Black's been doing and whether he can be followed by a literary creation.

Hall mixes metafiction, Biblical scholarship, Don Quixote, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics in this unusual novel about finding order in the world and making sense of what is happening (having not read Hall's debut The Raw Shark Texts, I can only imagine that it probably contains a similar postmodern distinctiveness). The pictorial elements in the text feel quite House of Leaves, though less embedded in the narrative, but it is the questioning over the characters and narrative that occurs later in the novel that really brings out an unnerving sense as you read it. The focus on entropy is intriguing and the Biblical parts are perhaps best for the occasional jibes at Dan Brown (there's a lovely sense that the book is very aware that at the beginning it could go down the direction of a Dan Brown novel instead of the much weirder narrative it takes). The self-consciousness, not even in terms of the narration but in terms of the book itself and the focus on writers only having one novel and whether they'll create another, is enjoyable and it feels like a clever way to engage with ideas about authorial creation and looking for meaning.

Maxwell's Demon is a novel for people who like to occasionally have no idea what just happened, but recognise that literary reference on the way. It is a philosophical mystery about family, writers, and narrative that some people will devour and probably others will wonder what the point was (and maybe that's the point).