Can Nothing Save Us? cover art

Can Nothing Save Us?

The exhilarating new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Trainspotting

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Can Nothing Save Us?

By: Irvine Welsh
Narrated by: Todd Kramer
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A divided Las Vegas family is forced to confront the past and reckon with a dangerous future in the searing new novel from Irvine Welsh.

Molly and George Warburton are used to living life their own way. Now, in the ferocious heat of Sin City, the couple are facing up to their failures and final years.

They announce that their grandson Luke – college dropout, aspiring writer, electronic dance music aficionado – will inherit their millions. It is sudden news that leaves their daughter Gina hell-bent on revenge.

Yet Luke’s good fortune will not last. When a strange newcomer to the neighbourhood insinuates himself into the Warburtons’ world, it is the beginning of a chain of chilling events that could split the family permanently and put all their lives at risk.

The question is, do they have what it takes to survive?

PRAISE FOR THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR:

‘Welsh writes with a skill, wit and compassion that amounts to genius’ Sunday Times

‘A triumph. A great, redemptive book’ Observer

‘No living author is as entertaining to read’ GQ

‘Powerful…bracing and engaging’ Daily Telegraph

© Irvine Welsh 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense
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Critic reviews

An epic American family saga . . . This is a bold and ambitious work, in which Welsh deftly shifts point of view with confidence and conviction . . . expansive, compelling and heartfelt . . . a literary triumph
A new book by Irvine Welsh is always an event . . . No living author is as entertaining to read
In his portrayal of family and city, Welsh clearly intends them to encapsulate a dying America – the other sense of the title’s ‘Us’ . . . [A] state-of-the-union satire
Riveting. Beneath the mayhem and morbid humour is a serious – if ultimately unanswerable – question: if everything is broken what, if anything, can save us?
A story of envy, violence and generational conflict . . . Welsh’s greatest skill has always been cast-building, and so it is here . . . Each takes turns at carrying the narrative weight of the novel, and each is allowed a rich inner life and complicated outer relations
So propulsive . . . about as much fun as you can have between two book covers
Can Nothing Save Us? is a big American novel and applies the same sharp-eyed realism that Trainspotting brought to working-class Edinburgh to Trump’s US. Set in the scorching heat of Las Vegas, it’s a multigenerational thriller
Powerful . . . A bracing and engaging read
A riot of vivid characters, with added political tub-thumping which betrays Welsh’s clear anxiety about where his adopted country is headed
Taut, provocative, and darkly funny, this is a compelling portrait of a family pushed to its limits
All stars
Most relevant
Mispronounced words, strange pacing and reading makes one think it’s read by AI. Not good

Sounds like AI read story

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I've loved every single one of the previous books. Always keen to get back to it to see what will happen next. Which is why I pre-ordered this one but I'm struggling. I can't see me getting to the end. In fact, I'd need to start again to regain the thread. I actually stopped to look at the name of the author, thinking I must have made a mistake, mainly because it's a massive shift from what we're used to.

Not what I expected ...

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Too long. Watery story. Welsh losing his touch. Nothing like Welsh’s normal quality. Not sure what I expected. The narrator was monotonous.

Mediocre at best

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Ok, but not great. Nothing terrible, just not great. Nothing gripped or enthralled, just ok. Prefer all his other books to this.

Meh..

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This is terrible, I only got part of the way through it. Without a doubt the worst narrator I’ve ever heard. Sounds like a robot. The story is nothing like the other novels he’s written or that the amazing Tam Dean Burn has brought to life. I’ve no idea what happened here. Wanted to like it. Disappointed.

This is not like any other Irvine Welsh book.

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