Here's the synopsis of the yet untitled novel -
A pub quiz team of 5 members enjoy regular events in many different establishments. They are very successful and other teams begin to resent them and some pubs even start to bar them from participating anymore.
They decide to apply for various TV quiz shows and they, as a team and individually become successful and reasonably well known.
A famous and quite unpleasant TV and media mogul wants to create `The world’s biggest quiz show’ with an unlimited cash prize. He spends millions on promotion as the juggernaut of publicity rolls before the teams are even selected. There is much pizazz and a media frenzy of interest. TV companies are clamouring over themselves to get rights to broadcast it, which will be shown as an open-ended series. The team puts themselves forward, but are told they must eject one member for the show.
The show is a massive success as team after team are eliminated week after week. The nation is hooked and there is more and more interest in the individuals of the team.
They keep winning and winning and there are accusations of foul play and collusion. The media darlings become figures of derision and even hate. The former 5th member sets out to destroy them with the help of a rival media mogul who has naturally previously crossed swords with the creator of the show.
The company start to realise that interest is now more about the characters involved and rather than the format of the programme and they begin to regret not putting a ceiling of the potential winnings.
The quizzers have to be housed in secret locations as their fame turns in to infamy. The production company on the behest of the mogul start to infiltrate the group and try to destroy them from inside causing resentment and distrust within the team, hopefully causing them to fail in the show.
Things get out of control and what started as a group of friends enjoying a pint and a pleasant pub quiz become a group of hated TV personalities bent on outdoing each other before they are themselves destroyed by the powers that have created their now mythic personalities.