Review: Joe’s Odyssey by Nick LaTorre

Sent on a seemingly harmless client meeting for his boss, Joe Kerson has no idea that his life is about to take a wild turn in Joe’s Odyssey by Nick LaTorre. Dreaming of making a drastic change in life is something to which most readers can relate, giving this wild and unpredictable adventure broad appeal.

Joe Kerson is used to people walking all over him, but with a single shove, he finds himself the new owner of a luxury yacht, and eight suitcases overflowing with mob money. The only problem is that he has no idea what to do next, so he recruits some fellow sailors, a group of college bros called the Schmorde, who have the kind of life Joe always envied from afar. Thus begins a bizarre and unlikely trip, with Joe and three companions half his age desperately seeking a wild time, and trying to evade the mobsters hot on their heels.

As a protagonist, Joe is rough around the edges, uncouth and selfish, and seems driven dangerously by his id. His longing for a nostalgic return to some nonexistent past leads him to abandon all responsibility to his wife and children, and roll the dice on all their lives. He does lack the expected charm of a reluctant everyman, but as the book progresses, the adrenaline of the adventure becomes infectious, and while Joe isn’t particularly likable, readers will still end up rooting for his next narrow escape from catastrophe.

The four carousing criminals are entertaining at times, and downright offensive at others, making it difficult to be continually engaged in their sexy shenanigans and occasionally mishaps. The International League of Gangsters is also incredibly inept in most of their choices, giving this satirical story a sense of the impossibile, which tends to make the book feel empty of consequences. There are a few bright moments of comic relief and clever banter that keep the pace up, but there isn’t a consistent thread that carries interest through the story.

The blatant inconsistencies are also hard to ignore, such as the idea that Las Vegas is not a landlocked city in the middle of the desert, the lax nature of the judicial system in San Francisco, and the strange patience of bloodthirsty killers in search of a huge sum of money. Also, the context of the setting is bizarre, with gangsters being given control of governmental departments, and other strange twists that never receive adequate attention or explanation. All told, the story feels too conveniently pieced together, and despite being a work of fiction, it pushes the line of believable in exorbitant ways.

This could work if the book was working as farce, but the novel has certain moments that ask readers to take it seriously, and other sections that seem to directly poke fun at the story itself. The action-packed plot is unpredictable, yes, but for readers seeking a thriller or a comedy, there’s an uneven mixture of tones that is not always successful. However, for a raucous, eye-rolling read that will begrudgingly take you back to your foolish college days, Joe’s Odyssey is a harmless splurge of fun.