Rotter, Gabe: The Human Bobby

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Through a series of understandable mistakes, Bobby Flopkowski loses everything that mattered to him--his wife, his son, his medical practice. A handful of years later, after a long period of being drunk and drugged, Bobby is homeless but reasonably content--despite the incessant clicking in his head. He's got a good friend, a tent, a gun, and the only copy of his father's unfinished novel, The Human Being. It's all he needs. But even this modest happiness is lost to him after a chance sighting of someone from his past leads Bobby to dig into the truth behind his tragedy.

Composing my review of The Human Bobby in my head while I read, I was going to say that the book holds one's interest surprisingly well given that what really happened to tear Bobby's life apart is patently obvious to the reader long before Bobby himself catches on. But about 75 pages from the end I began to realize that things weren't as obvious as I had supposed: subtly at first, then more directly, the author suggests that our narrator is not as trustworthy as he at first appeared. The transition is very nicely done, just a hint at first that makes the reader's brow furrow. In the end, we understand fully what's going on, even if our narrator doesn't. It's a clever ending, though I confess to being left feeling a little unsatisfied--the result, I suppose, of having reality pulled out from under you.