by Vijay Khurana
published 29 May 2025
A mesmerising and unsettling novel from a powerful new voice
Seeking release from their small-town existence, two teenagers drive north on a vaguely plotted road trip.
Adam and Teddy hope to leave boyhood behind. But they carry with them all the upsets and resentments they have accrued in their unhappy lives to date. As the pair’s journey progresses, the mood fluctuates as each of them sets out to prove himself. Soon the dynamics of their friendship begin to unravel, culminating in an act of devastating – and all too familiar – violence.
In taut and stylish prose, The Passenger Seat examines how men learn and perform masculinity. Rejecting easy answers, it keeps our eyes trained on the vanishing point where vulnerability edges into violence, alienation into aggression.
‘This book is simply great – an elegant novel written with disturbing emotional intensity and a sly, judicious sense of contemporary detail.’ Lauren Oyler
‘This perfectly pitched tale of masculinity gone wrong exposes the ways that intimacy can so quickly veer into violence – yet it evades easy moral pronouncements at every turn. Khurana is a brilliant stylist who drives straight toward the heart.’ Elvia Wilk
‘Vijay Khurana writes incredibly succinct and vigorous prose. His stories, always full of insight and depth, shine a light on the most nuanced and ambivalent corners of our lives.’ Yan Ge