{"product_id":"the-bob-watson-a-novel-isbn-9780062304797","title":"The Bob Watson: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of \u003cem\u003eCash Out\u003c\/em\u003e, a hilarious novel about one working stiff’s day of hooky—reminiscent of \u003cem\u003eFerris Bueller’s Day Off\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eOffice Space\u003c\/em\u003e—and the insanity that ensues.\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRick Blanco walks out of meetings. He’s a serial meeting ditcher. A walk-out artist. He’s so good that no one seems to notice when he just gets up and walks out. A corporate illusionist of the covert kind, he learned his trade studying a former colleague, the master of meeting ditches, Bob Watson. Rick continues Bob’s legacy, going for more frequent and longer ditches, building on the art with every boring corporate meeting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, Rick wants to pull off his most important Bob Watson yet—skipping out of work to see his young nephew before he moves with his parents to Argentina. But things soon get complicated. As Rick leaves the office, he’s mistaken for the company’s human resources executive Dick Rayborne, a man made famous in HR circles for creating the hot new labor practice of “consourcing”—like “outsourcing” but with convicted felons. Convinced that he is the scummy Dick Rayborne, two cons, and a granny they call Mama, force Rick into six hours of mayhem, complete with home break ins and emergency board of directors meetings. Along the way, Rick realizes he has the opportunity to pull off the most meaningful Bob Watson imaginable, and still give his nephew a hug goodbye.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRefreshing, witty, and clever,\u003cem\u003e The Bob Watson\u003c\/em\u003e is a madcap tale of danger, adventure, and personal discovery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eRick Blanco is no different from any other office slave—he \u003cem\u003ehates\u003c\/em\u003e stupid office meetings. What makes him special is he’s done something about it. Following in the footsteps of Bob Watson—a former colleague and office illusionist—he’s perfected the art of ditching meetings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, Rick wants to pull off his most important Bob Watson yet—skipping out of work to go on a date with the woman he’s chased for years. All she requires is that he first treat his precocious young nephew to his own Bob Watson and give him a break from a life filled with stress, college prep, and mandatory overachievement. The day is as exciting as Rick could have wanted, but not in the way he had hoped. Mistaken for one of the most notorious HR executives in the world, Rick is soon forced into six hours of mayhem, complete with home break-ins, a large bag of cash, a variety of naked people, and an emergency board meeting he may not be able to escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlong the way, Rick realizes there might be an important reason behind everything—a very important reason. Well, everything except for the bottle of Wesson oil. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Likably wry and dementedly screwball, THE BOB WATSON is a novel full of both sharp wit and genuine emotion.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLou Berney, Edgar Award winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Pays homage to all the worker bees stuck in corporate meetings. Goes awry with mistaken identity and mayhem.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFort Worth Star-Telegram\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“For those who have resented sitting through drawn-out, tedious work meetings, Greg Bardsley’s second novel will immediately strike a chord. … Through his colorful, cinematic lens, even the most mundane settings contain hilarity and humanity.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bardsley renders the absurd credible in his hilarious ‘Bob Watson.’ … One of the more zany and imaginative novels to arrive on bookstore shelves.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSan Jose Mercury News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A madcap, riotous adventure ... Bardsley excels at fast-paced, observational wit that manages to poke fun at our modern life while adding a little heart. For fans of Joshua Ferris, Sam Lypsite, and The Office” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Succeeds grandly in making Silicon Valley a place of intrigue and dangerous head cases and hard cases.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A funny expose of life on the darker side of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial world.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWest Coast Live\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Sassy, great fun.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrankfurter Allgemeine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Does the ever-modernizing, depersonalizing corporate world make you want to stop and yell time out? Bardsley warns us to be careful what we wish for in a fresh satire that is both spot-on and hilarious.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTim Dorsey, New York Times bestselling author of Florida Roadkill\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Anyone who’s ever sat in a corporate meeting for more than ten minutes will revel in the glorious and wacky corporate take-down in \u003ci\u003eThe Bob Watson\u003c\/i\u003e. There’s a tender, touching story in here, too-peeking out and shining through all the laugh-out-loud madness.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJessica Anya Blau, author of The Trouble with Lexie\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greg Bardsley has a keen sense of the absurdity of everyday life, particularly Corporate America. But he gets the real things right, too, like all the messy stuff that makes us human. My advice: ditch your next meeting, find a coffee shop, and start reading. You won’t regret it.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMatthew Norman, author of We're All Damaged and Domestic Violets\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A cold heart is beating in [Greg Bardsley’s] prose, one that suspects there’s nothing much good to say about people. Still…you can say it with a sly wink that lets everyone know we’re all in on the same grim joke. Bardsley gives us the wink and delivers the black punchline.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCharlie Huston, best-selling author of The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death and The Shotgun Rule [Ballantine], as well as the Henry Thompson trilogy and the Joe Pitt casebooks\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bardsley’s work will be around a long time. He forces you to remember. … My prediction: As soon as the novels start rolling out, Bardsley will be as big as Palahniuk. But the critics will like him a lot more.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnthony Neil Smith, author of Hogdoggin and Yellow Medicine [Bleak House]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greg Bardsley took all the sensible advice I ever gave him about writing sober, empathetic, kind-hearted fiction, chased it down the hallway, gave it an atomic wedgie, duct-taped it to the flagpole, sold nude pictures of its mom in the boys’ locker room, and then blackmailed the principal into complicit silence. Damned if that wasn’t exactly the right thing for him to have done. His fiction is tight, serrated, brutal, nine kinds of twisted, and funny as hell. Brace yourselves.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDoug Dorst, award-winning author of Alive in Necropolis [Riverhead]\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePraise for Cash Out: “Flat-out funny prose that doesn’t resort to parody is a rarity. Bardsley’s clarity and eccentricity should be treasured.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hilarious … A fast-moving page turner with zany plot twists that you won’t want to put down.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePortland Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888213651685,"sku":"NP9780062304797","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062304797.jpg?v=1730228452","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-bob-watson-a-novel-isbn-9780062304797","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}