Jane and Dan at the End of the World

Oakley’s latest (after The Mostly True Adventures of Tanner & Louise) is a satirical exploration of a marriage at midlife that is upended by a terrorist attack. Jane plans to tell Dan she wants a divorce at their 19th (or is it 20th?) wedding anniversary dinner, but this isn’t the biggest bombshell to hit Dan that evening. Before he can absorb what Jane is saying, a gun-toting gang bursts into the restaurant and takes everyone hostage. Now Jane and Dan are not only navigating midlife malaise but also dealing with a criminal enterprise that bears a striking resemblance to that in Jane’s first (and only) novel. Or at least Jane thinks it does; Dan barely remembers the plot of Jane’s failed book, and since it sold so few copies, he’s skeptical that anyone else would know it either. When coincidences pile up and the group reveals what they’re really after, he has to admit she may be right. Jane and Dan will be forced to work together to save not only themselves but others caught up in the plot.