Review: Ordinary Joe by Jon Teckman

A brilliant, fast-paced comedy about what happens when all of your dreams become true.
What would you do if…
…you were happily married
…with two gorgeous children
…and the most gorgeous film star in the world walked up to you
…And it wasn’t a joke.
…Could you resist?
Joe West, accountant, father and husband is just your average guy who has just walked into that dream scenario. Except the dream sours fast and suddenly everything he holds dear is on the line.
Sometimes life is crazier than the movies.

Shona's review 3 of 5 stars

I knew going into this book that Joe cheats on his wife. However, I anticipated it happening a little later into the book than it actually happened. I did think this was going to be the tale of a man pursued by the film star, who saw his resolve wear down over time, but instead was met by what can only be described as a drunken falling into bed. With him hiding in bed after the event and her slinking out of his hotel room you'd be forgiven for not understanding all that came after.

The morning after, Joe is flying back to England with his colleague Joseph, when in a case of mistaken identity Joseph receives a text that Joe should have received... instead of coming clean, Joe allows the mistake to go unchecked and everything snowballs from there. Joe has numerous times to put things right by coming clean but instead decides to keep his mouth shut, which in turn screws Joseph over.

I actually struggled with not only writing my review, but also my star rating... On the one hand I found the story well paced and well written, it definitely grabbed my attention, I read this in one sitting, so compelled was I to find out what happened. On the other hand I didn't like a single character in this book... perhaps maybe Joe's son Matthew who had difficulty with words beginning with the letter S, with somewhat hilarious results... There wasn't a single second in this book that I felt the tiniest ounce of sympathy for Joe, Nor could I muster a shred of sympathy for Joseph, who was so seriously wronged, or even Natasha, Joe's wife, who in almost every scene was either moaning that her husband wasn't filling her in on the tiniest shred of gossip or was belittling his very existence and laughing at the possibility that someone like Olivia would even consider looking at her husband.

If this is in fact what the author was aiming for then Kudos to him for a job well done, but for me there was no comedy, no connection with any of characters and I ended the book more than a little disappointed.