There was a lot to like here, but overall I found the book too long. I think it would have been better if one of the plot lines had been cut. I nominate the one about Freddy Kamo the footballer. I don't think it added much to the story and it was the most tedious. The general idea was a street of houses that overlapped poor and gentrified and the people who lived in them. There is a wealthy banking family, an elderly woman whose grandson is basically Banksy (and why does the author hate Banksy so much?), a Pakistani family, a footballer from Senegal, a Polish builder and a meter maid from Zimbabwe. Each of their stories could be a separate novel and these stories are intercut throughout.

I felt the best moments came from the death of the elderly woman. There was real grace and empathy in the description of her daughter taking care of her. Similarly, the meter maid is a very strong empathetic character. The Pakistani family is less interesting until the arrest of one of the members. The wealthy banking couple is composed of stereotypes. The other characters were less successful for me. I admit this could be a me problem and not necessarily a problem with the book. I just found a lot of the characters flat. I could see where he was trying to make me care, but for the most part I just didn't.

Apparently it was made into a tv series and I could see this being one of those cases where the television show is much better than the source material.