Several of the characters are involved in religion and politics at the extremes. There are Jehovah's Witnesses, Islamic Fundamentalists, Animal Rights activists. Smith deals with these characters in a mature way. She writes these characters as sometimes ridiculously obsessed, sometimes confused, mixing ideas and emotions, rationalizing their choices and beliefs, or simply proclaiming them without logic or reason.

There is an interesting authorial rant late in the book which starts with Irie's love for Millat. Irie is the daughter of Archie - middle aged white English working class - and Clara - second generation Jamaican. Millat is one of the twin sons of Samad Iqbal, Bengali. Millat is part cocksman, part gangster, and an Islamic militant by the end of the book. Irie is convinced that Millat can't love her because he is damaged by his past, to which Smith says: "What made us think that anyone who fails to love us is damaged, lacking, malfunctioning in some way?" This is an interesting commentary on the sense of entitlement we absorb from pop psychology and pop culture, which leads us to blame others for not living up to our hopes and dreams.

There are some weaknesses in the book. Smith leaves some plot threads dangling. For instance part way through the book she suggests that Millat gets HIV during unprotected sex, but leaves that idea unresolved. Some of her characters are just caricatures. Joyce Chalfens, wife of the scientist Marcus Chalfens, writer, gardener, earth mother, liberal, hippie, is weak. There is a ridiculous liberal school headmaster. Smith's voice and tone waver. In places she writes in a literary style, and in other places she aims for irony, and in places she sounds more like a chicklit goddess.

The climax - the collision between Marcus Chalfens's genetically altered mouse and all the protesters has a moment of great tension, which almost overcomes the disappointment of an otherwise flat climax. The resolution of the stories of the lead characters is also disappointingly sweet and benign. There is a feeling that the ending was chopped off, and written in a positive and feel-good way, to help guarantee the saleability of a hyped product.

On the whole though, a very good book by a writer of great talent and promise.