Love Bomb: A Novel (Paperback)
"Smart, funny, [and] irreverent...A perfect summer novel."—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington
Author of Layover
New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
"It's been a while since I've read a satire as deft and ambitious as Lisa Zeidner's Love Bomb....Wildly entertaining."—Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire Falls
In quaint Haddonfield, New Jersey, Tess is about to marry Gabe in her childhood home. Her mother, Helen, is panicked about the guest list---which promises warring exes, racial tensions, and way too many psychiatrists. But the most challenging guest is an uninvited one: a woman who shows up in a wedding dress, wearing a gas mask and toting a sawed-off shotgun, with a bomb trigger strapped to her arm.
While the warm, wise Helen attempts to control the hysteria, the hostages begin to untangle their connections to their captor, and to one another. Together, they await the arrival of the SWAT team---and the moment when "the terrorist of love" reveals her true motives.
A tough, tender social comedy and a romance with guts, Love Bomb is written with deep affection for everything it skewers.
“Wise, laugh-aloud funny, and totally entertaining.” —Nancy Pearl
“The fluidity of Zeidner's prose keeps us eagerly turning the pages....With the pleasing intensity of an action film and none of the boring car chases, Love Bomb is a witty, smart, and densely packed novel.” —The New York Times Book Review
“It's Zeidner's insight into---and keen sympathy for---human foibles that supplies Love Bomb's biggest impact.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Reading Love Bomb is like viewing the world through special glasses that make your perception off-kilter, keener, more attuned to the tragicomedy that surrounds us, to the gonzo miracle of love's outrageous resilience.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
“Explosively funny.” —Vanity Fair
“It's been a while since I've read a satire as deft and ambitious as Lisa Zeidner's Love Bomb. It's a wildly entertaining read.” —Richard Russo, author of That Old Cape Magic and Empire Falls
“Cry at weddings? No? You probably would once Lisa Zeidner's badass avenging feminist showed up in her gas mask and took you hostage--at least once you got done clutching your gut from the hilarity. Reading Love Bomb is like viewing the world through special glasses that make your perception off-kilter, keener, more attuned to the tragicomedy that surrounds us, to the gonzo miracle of love's outrageous resilience.” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
“If Jane Austen had lived to witness 9-11, Lisa Zeidner's witty and terrifying comedy of romantic manners is what she would have written. It's brilliant, funny, and scary.” —Rafael Yglesias, author of A Happy Marriage