Smile

When an author is as spectacular reading his work as his writing is on the page, the result is a literary treasure. Having created these characters, Doyle (Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha) knows exactly who endures, who lashes out, who threatens, who flirts, and who snaps. At his narrative center is Victor Forde, recently separated from his famous wife and relocated to a dingy apartment. For now, a few pints at the local pub with some of the regulars—including Fitzpatrick, a former schoolmate—is the only thing that gets him out. In between drink-loosened conversations, Victor reveals fragments of his past: his Christian Brothers School education, the abuse he suffered and survived, his once-promising writing career, and his happy marriage. As he attempts to reinvent his life as an untethered, middle-age single man, the stories he tells—to himself and others—ultimately reveal the most unexpected truths. For all the eyebrows raised to the scalp, the never-saw-that-coming supreme deception, Doyle's Smile will require utterly undivided attention.