The brilliant new novel from the bestselling cult author of them all. Susan and John need to disappear -- Susan and John need to find each other. Meet Susan Colgate -- Miss Wyoming. Winner of a hundred teen pageants, child TV soap star, owner of a hideously pushy mother...and now reduced to small, brainless parts in small, brainless movies. Oh, and sole survivor of Flight 802. If she were to walk away from the wreckage now, before the emergency crews get here, she could disappear and nobody would ever know...Meet John Johnson -- action film producer (Bel Air P.I...um, Bel Air P.I. 2), occasional sado-masochist, junkie. He just died -- but only for 5 minutes. But while he was gone, he saw a vision of a woman's face and realized that it was time to escape, to ditch the baggage of being horny, rich, lonely John Johnson and to lose himself. To disappear. Wouldn't it be nice if they were to find themselves and get together? In many ways a reprise of Girlfriend in a Coma, Miss Wyoming represents a further leap forwards into the World According to Coupland -- a witty, genuinely funny look at who we are, how we can change, and how we can make a difference.

Heroine of this outstanding tale is Miss Wyoming, Susan Colgate, teen beauty-queen and low-rent soap actress. Dragooned into stardom by her demonically pushy, hillbilly mother, Susan's career is at rock-bottom. When she finds herself sole survivor of an air-crash, she views it as her opportunity to vanish, embarking on a voyage of personal discovery.

Meanwhile, John Johnson, debauched star of such Hollywood legends as Bel Air PI?, also longs to vanish. After a near-death experience, where he is treated to a vision of Susan's face, he roams the badlands of the western States. Back in L.A., a chance meeting sets him on a mission to unravel the mystery of Susan Colgate.

Coupland has a genius for capturing the absurdities of modern existence and using them as backdrop for a tale of hope and fulfilment. The curses of the cyber-age--junk-mail and web-junkies, fast food, jaded TV weather forecasters--teem around the central st0ry, creating a vivid and darkly funny tale. His peripheral characters are just as richly drawn. A scriptwriter and his supernaturally intelligent girlfriend, a recluse who spends his evening generating Internet rumours--all manage to be blessed and cursed, numbed by their pointless existences but full of humanity when put to the test. Picture Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut co-writing Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and you come halfway to grasping Coupland's uniquely funny and thoughtful brand of storytelling.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Matthew Baylis

length: (cm)17.8 　　　 　　　　　 　 width:(cm)11.1