This dazzling portrait of Johannesburg is one of the most haunting, poetic pieces of reportage about a metropolis since Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City. Through precisely crafted snapshots, Vladislavić observes the unpredictable, day-to-day transformation of his embattled city: the homeless using manholes as cupboards; a public statue slowly cannibalized for scrap. Most poignantly he charts the small, devastating changes along the post-apartheid streets: walls grow higher, neighbourhoods are gated, the keys multiply. Security – insecurity? – is the growth industry.