Derek Diver, a spoiled Midwestern Millennial with money, good looks, and not much else, yearns for an end to his existential lamentations. Burdened with oversensitivity and unbridled emotions, he wants only to become numb. Drugs and alcohol are too temporary and fleeting. Empty promiscuity just leads to more sadness and self-loathing. Nothing works. But when he falls in love with a married coworker who’s seventeen years his senior, his inner conflicts reach fever pitch. He begins a rapid descent down a road of longing, hatred, and violence. By the novel’s conclusion, despite Derek’s desperate attempts to anaesthetize himself, no one is left unscathed.
Chandler Morrison 