"Preparing you for an education you'll never forget, this introduction to The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of homicidal arts, follows students as they prepare for graduation by getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live."--

As thirteen-year-old Madison tries to figure out how she died and ended up in Hell, she learns how to manipulate the corrupt system of demons and bodily fluids.

A satire set in Texas during America's war in Iraq that explores the gaping national disconnect between the war at home and the war abroad. Follows the surviving members of the heroic Bravo Squad through one exhausting stop in their media-intensive "Victory Tour" at Texas Stadium, football mecca of the Dallas Cowboys, their fans, promoters, and cheerleaders.

It's early 2000 on New York City's Upper East Side, and the alienation of Moshfegh's unnamed young protagonist from others is nearly complete when she initiates her yearlong siesta, during which time she experiences limited personal interactions. Her parents have died; her relationships with her bulimic best friend Reva, an ex-boyfriend, and her drug-pushing psychiatrist are unwholesome. As her pill-popping intensifies, so does her isolation and determination...

"Every night, she cleans. On the fourth floor of an unnamed office in an unnamed city, the night cleaner comes and does what she does best--sorts out the messes of the daytime employees. None of them know her, but she knows everything about them: Sad Intern's dreams to get promoted, Résumé Woman's nasty flight-risk behavior, Mr. Buff's secret smoking habit...After all, protecting the employees is her responsibility: whether it's from rats and...

A sharp commentary on race relations in pre-Katrina New Orleans and a fast ride through the dark side of haute cuisine. Liquor has become one of the hottest restaurants in town, thanks in part to chefs Rickey and G-man’s wildly creative, booze-laced food. At the tail end of a busy Mardi Gras, Milford Goodman walks into their kitchen—he’s spent the last ten years in Angola Prison for murdering his boss, a wealthy New Orleans restaurateur, but...

"Boyle’s satire has lost none of its edge over the course of a nearly half-century literary career . . . (Blue Skies is) an expert blend of suspense, terror and, occasionally, very black humor . . . this fiercely honest writer shows us what he sees and invites his readers to draw their own conclusions." —Wendy Smith, Washington PostFrom best-selling novelist T. C. Boyle, a satirical yet ultimately moving send-up of contemporary American life in...

At 11:34 a.m. one Saturday in August 2019, Boyd Halverson strode into Community National Bank in Northern California. “How much is on hand, would you say?” he asked the teller. “I’ll want it all.” “You’re robbing me?” He revealed a Temptation .38 Special. The teller, a diminutive redhead named Angie Bing, collected eighty-one thousand dollars. Boyd stuffed the cash into a paper grocery bag. “I’m sorry about this,” he said, “but...

"Melvin Levin is dissatisfied-with his job, with life, with it all. He's too polite and too boring, and the monotony of his days is only broken when he has to clean up after his neighbor's frequently vomiting cat. That is, until he receives a mysterious death threat in the mail. Under the thrill of potentially getting murdered, Melvin begins to feel truly alive again. The threat gives Melvin a sense of self-importance-someone wants him dead-and, ironically,...

A group of misfit, big-box store employees working the overnight shift in a small upstate New York town vie for the stability, salary and possibility of a new job when their store manager announces he is leaving. "Every day at 3:55 a.m., members of Team Movement clock in for their shift at big-box store Town Square in a small upstate New York town. Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day's truck of merchandise,...