This should have been the ideal novel for Peter Ackroyd. This 1960s tale of three brothers from a Camden council estate encompasses so many of Ackroyd’s special interests: the history of London; the bitchy – sometimes high-minded – world of academia and literary journalism; the dirty attraction of the criminal underworld.It ends up being a bitter disappointment. The three-brothers structure could have provided a flexible skeleton to fit a sophisticated plot on to. Instead, we are given a formulaic, episodic narrative, hearing from each of them in turn: Harry, an ambitious reporter; Daniel, a Cambridge academic and writer; Sam, a dropout loner.Occasionally, the three worlds collide, drawn together by a Peter Rachman-style landlord. But, in effect, this is really three sep