"This book could be the lovechild of Bill Bryson and Martin Amis.... But at its heart is a very serious point. It is about the tsunami of destruction that has hit Middle America since the financial crisis." --Daily Mail

Flip Mellis believes his recent past would be best described as: a man with his feet planted on terra firma. As a husband and father, he was a consistent breadwinner. As a business professional, he was a go-getter. For twenty years, he did all that was expected of him, if not much more.

But a job loss in his middle years, in the midst of a national economic crisis, has knocked Flip squarely on his big, soft ass, where he has been wallowing for nearly a year.

Over the course of one hectic week, replete with a cast of colorful characters, Flip is forced by circumstances of his own invention to finally get his life headed in the right direction. Like a pudgy, irritable toddler, he carefully tests his balance and lurches forward, stumbling around absurd obstacles and grasping for any solid purchase. Ultimately a spark of human resilience locked deep within his core begins to spread. The question becomes: will Flip's best efforts be enough to lead him safely to redemption or will they merely lead to a futile, purely graceless, and quixotic crash?