A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Time is the true thief in Jennifer Egan’s dazzling, genre-defying masterpiece. A Visit from the Goon Squad follows a web of unforgettable characters whose lives intersect across decades — from the wild energy of the 1970s punk scene to a near-future world transformed by technology and loss.

At its heart are Bennie Salazar, an aging music executive clinging to the remnants of his youth, and Sasha, his enigmatic assistant whose own life is haunted by secrets and desire. Through shifting perspectives and inventive storytelling — including one unforgettable chapter told entirely in PowerPoint — Egan captures the way time, regret, and hope shape who we become.

Profoundly moving and sharply funny, this Pulitzer Prize–winning novel explores music, memory, and the quiet devastations of growing older. It is a novel about how we survive the “goon squad” of time — and what we carry with us when everything else fades.