London Fields

 London Fields

Nicola Six has clairvoyant powers and discovers that she will die at the hands of one man. She begins an affair with three men to discover which of them is the killer.

The story opens with Samson Young, a terminally ill American writer who has come to London, apartment swapping with fellow writer Mark Asprey. He is taken there by taxi driver Keith Talent, a crude slob who despite not being very bright, excels at darts. After going to Mark's flat, Keith takes him to a pub called the Black Cross where he meets Guy Clinch, the current head of his family's business empire, who is trapped in a loveless marriage with his wife Hope. Clinch has a disturbed son, who tries to destroy everything he can get his hands on, although he tries to be a good man, and is not crude unlike Keith, but for some reason is his friend. Keith keeps borrowing money from Guy, so he can pay off all the loan sharks he owes, including darts rival Chick Purchase. While at the pub, they meet Nicola Six, who has just arrived from a funeral. Keith starts flirting with her. Guy does not, but does try to be a gentleman. Samson is fascinated by her.

The next day in the park, Samson sees Nicola dump a few books in a bin. Samson picks them out and starts reading them; the books imply that Nicola has the power to see into the future, but can only see people's deaths. It tells that she knew how her parents, sister, and best friend were going to die. Samson takes them back to her flat, and asks Nicola if she would be the central character for his novel. Nicola looks annoyed but agrees. Samson discovers that Nicola lives in the apartment above him and places recording devices between the cracks.

Nicola then plays the innocent naive woman with Guy who is trying to help her find her friend in Burma and the friend's son. Guy becomes overprotective of her and eventually makes love to her. She lies about being a virgin to Guy, whilst also being the femme fatale with Keith. She tells Guy she is teaching Keith to read, and tells Keith it is all part of a con so Keith can pay off his debt. She seduces and manipulates both of them by openly flirting with one in front of the other.

Samson emails his novel, The Murderee, to his publicists, Missy and Mark. Missy responds by email that she will not publish it because she believes it is about her. He receives a phone call from Mark saying he admires Samson's nerve.

Nicola, pretending to be from social services, visits Keith's flat where she meets Keith's wife Kath and their daughter. Nicola mocks the way they live and threatens to turn their daughter over to child services. Later that night, Keith goes to Nicola's flat to threaten her, but she has the money to pay off Chick (who paid off the other loan sharks, so now Keith owes it all to him), which he does.

Nicola and Samson meet at a restaurant where Samson tells Nicola he thinks the reader will only ever see her as a male fantasy figure. Nicola then tells Samson she knows he is dying and begins to flirt with him. Samson initially rejects her, eventually giving in and making love.

At the darts world championship, Nicola rejects both Keith and Guy, kissing Chick in front of both of them. Samson finds photos in one of Mark's books showing his affair with Nicola, on Guy Fawkes Night. On Nicola's 30th birthday, it is revealed that Samson is the one to kill her. Although she knew she was going to die that night, she did not know who would kill her. She accepts her fate and Samson kills her. He then takes her body back to Mark's flat and prints his novel. He renames it London Fields and leaves a note on top of the novel, before placing it on Nicola. He then lies next to her and dies.

The next morning, Mark returns home to find them dead. He picks up Samson's novel and starts reading it. He sells the novel under his own name and it becomes a number-one bestseller. Keith and Kath watch him on television annoyed.