The novel “All the lives he led” by Frederik Pohl was published for the first time in 2011.

Brad Sheridan works in Pompeii among the staff of the Giubileo, the 2000th anniversary of the great Vesuvius eruption that buried the ancient city in ancient times. He does earn much but his job is simple because tourists are entertained mostly by virtual reality reproductions of the ancient Pompeii.

His pay isn’t much but for Brad the situation is better than in the USA, so much that he always sends money to his family back home. However, in Italy there are problems too with terrorism and a form of flu might make many victims among tourists. Brad tends to get into trouble and the situation with his girlfriend Gerda also becomes more and more complicated.