Neotnia’s first revelation is that she went to stay and work with Goeido when her father disappeared, a year previously - who was he, and where did he go? It begins with Ezra sitting nervously in a room labelled as "Record label HQ, London" while holding a white disk with "Pretty Shining People Demo George Ezra" written on it in permanent marker. However, I do wish the author had used the term "vulva" rather than "vagina" as, from the sounds of it, the whole area is a smooth Barbie mound for Neotnia, and I'd argue that having no vulva is more of an issue than having no vagina, as penetration really isn't the be-all and end-all. It is hard to review ‘Beautiful Shining People’ as it can not be pigeonholed neatly into a genre as it is part YA but it deals with distinctly adult themes, it's a ‘sci-fi’ novel but yet it isn't as it's only set 30 years in the future, its kind of a thriller but its also a deep dive into relationships, friendships and humanity.

The scene then changes repeatedly between Ezra's audition, Ezra taking a selfie with two girls, a young boy showcasing some possible Ezra album cover ideas and two young boys dressing Ezra with a man bag.Lonely and not sure what to do with himself, one night John visits a café, where he meets former sumo wrestler Goeido - its owner - young waitress Neotnia, and her unique-looking dog, Inu. It was released as a digital download on 2 March 2019, as the first promotional single from Ezra's second studio album Staying at Tamara's. He stumbles across a cafe where he meets a young Japanese woman Neotnia who randomly gives him an ear cleaning. His debut novel, Epiphany Jones, a story about sex trafficking among the Hollywood elite, was longlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and named one of the 25 ‘Most Irresistible Hollywood Novels’ by Entertainment Weekly. Beautiful Shining People, by Michael Grothaus, is set in Japan in the 2040s, where seventeen-year-old American programmer John is staying while waiting to seal a deal with Sony for a novel translation app he’s written using quantum code, which is opening up new possibilities.

But it is also romance with both some steam and an almost doomed/forbidden vibe… And maybe even a touch of family drama and mystery thrown in to spice things up. It takes a Japan that has intrigued and beguiled outsiders for centuries and brings it to life on the page, then fires it into a future that is entirely too easy to imagine. Even though technology has advanced to the point that robots, self-driving cars, and AI-controlled infrastructure are integral to everyday life, the world of Beautiful Shining People is far from unrecognisable. Sprinkled with some truly breath-taking, achingly beautiful passages of writing – from internal reflection to vivid descriptions of the surroundings - Grothaus' second novel moves for the most part relatively slowly, ebbing and flowing smoothly as it builds anticipation and suspense before coming together in a thrilling, captivating conclusion.

As Ezra begins performing the chorus, the scene changes to a young child in a suit presenting a presentation to the children from the previous scene. The story therefore provokes all kinds of emotions from the outset: concern, curiosity, empathy and a growing unease about where this will all lead. Overall, though, this is entertaining enough and I enjoyed following the developing relationship between John and Neotina, but I scratched my head too often at some of the character and world-building choices to give it anything other than a cautious recommendation. This book is full of rich worldbuilding focused on a future maybe not that far away from our current state.