J.P. Meyboom writes about rootless ambition, accidental salvation, and the absurd comedy of trying to get ahead.
J.P. Meyboom is a Canadian writer whose debut novel Business has been praised by author Andrew Daley as “an enthralling, blackly comic downward journey… a meditation on friendship and love,” and called “an edge-of-seat page-turner” by Midwest Book Review. Read, Listen, Watch noted Meyboom’s “sharp and mordant” style and crackling dialogue. With a background in TV and film, Meyboom brings a cinematic pace and dark wit to fiction. Business has been compared to the works of George Saunders, Irvine Welsh, and Mohsin Hamid for its blend of crime, satire, and literary depth.
Originally released at the tail end of the pandemic, Business reemerges—a sharp, darkly funny debut about ambition, fraud, and the absurdity of survival.
Acclaimed Cult Classic
Paul Wint walks away from his job writing greeting cards and straight into the orbit of Hornsmith, a dying con artist working one last hustle. The target: Dr. Courtney, a vain cosmetic surgeon, and Simon Trang, a shadowy narc. Hornsmith calls it business — but it’s really a messy blackmail job wrapped in delusion.
Things unravel fast. Hornsmith’s distracted by his cancer, Courtney’s gangsters want out, and Paul’s hopelessly fixated on Marla, the punk singer in a band called The Raging Socket. When Paul’s apartment mysteriously burns down, he bolts from town in Marla’s drug-dealing boyfriend’s ’68 Firebird. His neighbor, Akinwole Mulumba — a homesick Nigerian accountant with no better options — jumps in for the ride.
What follows is a road trip through the cracked mirror of America: Vegas, ghosts, desert breakdowns, a haunted monk, and a Cambodian waitress named Deer who just might save what’s left of them.
*Business* is a fast, funny, and bruised-hearted novel about falling short, fucking up, and finding strange grace at the end of the line.
“Business is an enthralling, blackly comic downward journey packed with a delicious assortment of losers and misfits that doubles as a meditation on friendship and love.” —Andrew Daley
“Knife-edge suspense laced with shocking violence and ruthless treachery make Business an edge-of-seat page-turner to the very end. Highly recommended, especially for connoisseurs of the genre!” —Midwest Book Review
“The author’s style is sharp and mordant, the world is drawn starkly, and the dialogue crackles.” —Read, Listen, Watch