After being violently warned off a story, investigative journalist Adam Osprey has pretty much resigned himself to the easy life of lifestyle journalism, eating and drinking for a living. But his old instincts are triggered when a mysterious message on his computer interrupts his research for an article on Sydney's best restaurant toilets.

Justine has returned to Sydney after a stint working in Africa as an aid worker. Many of her friends are beginning to get married and have babies. She is getting itchy feet when a chance meeting with an old lover in a pub leads to a dangerous, somewhat repulsive mission.

Roger Houston, Minister for Development in the Sporty Party, is one of the old school, whose career in politics has followed a buffet logic of hedonism and self-enrichment. But just when it looks as if he has succeeded in becoming the master puppeteer, the disappearance of Alexander Parker MP sets in train a surprising series of events.

The Guts is a sharp literary thriller about Sydney's power, politics and lifestyle obsessions as the internet began to change everything.