"Conjuring the spirit, energy, and style of Irvine Welsh, Shilo Jones debuts with On the up, a propulsive novel that throws readers into the dark underside of property development in North Vancouver. Jasminder Bansal is determined, Carl Reed is addicted, and Mark Hamel is righteous. There's only one thing that can bring them together and satisfy them all--The Solstice. A future property development in Vancouver's north end that promises everything: freedom, prestige, capital, status, wealth. They are all on the up. Over the course of a week, the trio vie for the Solstice, but there are debilitating obstacles standing in the way. Jasminder, a young woman with a family connection to gangland violence and a powerful ambition, is playing a deceitful and dangerous game with her boss, a slick property lawyer. Mark, a veteran of the Afghanistan War with a strong moral conscience is barely coping with the effects of PTSD while trying to repay his debt to his brother--a debt that draws him in to a dark and disturbing world of violence and corruption. Finally, there's Carl 'Blitzo' Reed, an addict and co-founder of Green Lead, an ecological investment firm with a morally questionable connection to the property. On the up introduces Shilo Jones as a writer with a singular voice and style. Here he gives us a novel filled with bleak humour, unusual characters, and pathos. He offers a sharp satire about circumstances and how they can force our hands and what happens when greed, desperation, will, loyalty, and desire for status collide."-- Provided by publisher.