AFTERLIFE is the debut novel by Sean O’Brien, a story of power, rivalry and ultimately murder.

It is a gripping exploration of how some outcomes are decided long before we are even aware of the options.

It’s 1976 and the weather has brought relentless heat and four students who have just graduated are enjoying their last days of freedom before the big wide world beckons. Alex and Martin rent a house in the middle of nowhere with their respective girlfriends.

While Jane writes and Susie finds a job at the local art college, the two boys spend their days sleeping, smoking, drinking and trying to keep cool in the heart.

As the temperature rises, however, so does the tension between the four and when a glamorous, hedonistic American student arrives in their midst, events and emotions escalate still further.

This is a witty and darkly comic murder story, full of atmosphere which proves that even standing by and doing nothing can have devastating consequences.

The author lives in Newcastle and is professor of poetry at Sheffield Hallam University and teaches on the MA Writing course. His six collections of poetry to date have all won awards, most recently The Drowned Book which won both the Forward Prize for best collection and the TS Eliot Prize.

Afterlife, by Sean O’Brien, published by Picador on August 7 (£14.99 hardback).