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Transmission, Hari Kunzru
Hamish Hamilton
Reviewed by Heather Ramsay (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

If you know that there's more to India than the Taj Mahal and curry, then you're probably familiar with the two Indian elements that combine to cause worldwide havoc in Transmission.

The first is the talented computer expert, of which India turns out thousands every year. They are usually young men who dream of being snapped up by an American company once they have finished their college degrees.

The second is Bollywood movies, which are also churned out in huge numbers every year. Most are predictable love stories, full of song-and-dance routines, wistful looks, billowing saris, dramatic (usually foreign) scenery and happy-ever-afters. The stars are idolised by millions, including plenty of the aforementioned computer experts.

Transmission's main character is computer geek and Bollywood fan Arjun Mehta, whose skills in virus detection attract the attention of a major US company. But when Arjun's American dream starts to sour, he unleashes a virus. The face of the virus is Arjun's Bollywood heartthrob, the gorgeous Leela Zahir, who gains unwanted international fame as she sings and dances her way across millions of computer screens, infecting their systems as she goes.

The result is worldwide chaos. We see the consequences through Guy Swift, who completes the trinity of main characters. He's a thoroughly modern marketing executive with a love for fast cars, beautiful women, trendy gadgets and Power Point presentations – he even plans his own life with brief bullet points.

Transmission is a very funny, modern book that pokes gentle fun at aspects of our technology-driven, media-hyped global lives. The characters are deliberately stereotyped, but they come together to form a storyline that is far-fetched but scarily believable. So if you've been a bit lax lately, this book might just be the reminder you need to update your anti-virus software, install a firewall or two, and hunker down to fight off the cyber superbugs.