What Is Wrong with You?

As Carl Hiaasen’s novels do for Florida, Rudnick’s (Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style) work does for the New York region. Rob, a book editor mourning the death of his husband, loses his job. He then accompanies Sean, his longtime trainer, to the private-island wedding of Sean’s ex-wife and a tech billionaire. Teeming with eccentric characters and too many plot points, this work is nevertheless, a very fun read. Rudnick’s screenwriting abilities (he penned 1997’s In & Out) show through in his beautifully weird dialogue. Most of the characters’ backstories are absurd, but still lived-in and fully imagined. The book alternates between the perspectives of each character, with a focus on the friendship between Rob and Sean. Rudnick pokes fun at modern technology and late-stage capitalism, portraying Trone (the billionaire who is marrying Sean’s ex) as a kind of unholy amalgamation of the various real tech billionaires of today.