Galley Talk: The Cure for Modern Life by Lisa Tucker

I was excited about Lisa Tucker's new novel, The Cure for Modern Life [Atria, Mar. 25], because I loved her last novel, Once Upon a Day. This is her best novel yet, with captivating characters, a progressively intricate plot and unexpected twists that grabbed me and did not let me go. The hip, funny and cynical protagonist, Matthew Connelly, who works for a pharmaceutical company and undergoes a transformation after meeting a homeless 10-year-old boy, is so fully realized that I wondered who Tucker had been talking to, to get such insight into the male mind. As Matthew's definition of happiness and success is upended, the reader confronts serious questions about what the good life is and how we decide what is right and wrong. The story is so cinematic, it's impossible not to be casting a film version while you read it. I think this is a novel that will appeal to everyone from book club members to those who read just one book a year.