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That Darke's boss is an unnamed and perhaps female Prime Minister of Britain is not cause for broad winks. Many of the plot turns in the novel may seem improbable and even fanciful, but the feelings expressed by the characters and their sense of time (running up, running down and running out) are, without exception, genuine. There is nothing titillating or vulgar about the PM's confession of missing Charles Darke because of loving him. And McEwan's humor is never simply topical. "I can't go anywhere alone," says the government leader of the impossible romance. "Bodyguards apart, I have to take the nuclear hotline, and that means at least three engineers. And an extra driver. And someone from Joint Staff." "Disarm," Stephen urges, "for the sake of the heart." One should not be ashamed to read this astonishing book for the same reason.