The definitive cult, post-modern novel - a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism - reissued with an introduction from Zadie Smith.

After being bombarded endlessly by road-safety propaganda it was almost a relief to find myself in an actual accident.

When James Ballard smashes his car into another, he becomes fascinated with the allure of violence. His new friend Dr Robert Vaughan - a charismatic figure with a dubious sense of morality - leads him to a transgressive underworld of desire, where the collision of modernity and sex are pushed to the extremes. In a society ruled by mass-media and technological advancements, are there any limits to humanity's obsessions?