Before I got to the last section of the book, I was expecting to write something about it being “not his best” and “worth it for the updates on the unusual recurring characters”, but I’m not sure that’s exactly fair after finishing it. I would maybe rate it as a 3/5 for someone who hasn’t read a David Throne book before and lacks a lot of the context explored in earlier books, but a 4/5 for anyone who has.

This is not a normal David Thorne book about not-a-normal year. There are funny parts, of course, but they’re used more as small reliefs from a through-line of the growing pandemic, grief, and loss. There are a few “yikes” passages, as well, where you would have hoped an editor would have stepped in. Overall, the normally misanthropic Australian funnyman comes off more as someone just trying to cope through the pandemic & personal loss, while revealing a hidden care for many of the humans he’s previously made subject to his antics in prior writings.

The last two stories, one a flashback to his youth, the other more recent, cap off a book that serves more as an exploration of using humor to deal with a lifetime of trauma and loss, than a humorous endeavor itself.