Lake Success is an updated American Psycho with breathtaking depth. Whereas the latter book took me to a tempestuous place, the former reminded me that I'm living in one. I finished it while on the plane back from Miami sitting in coach but reminiscing on what must have been a $25,000 bottle service tab the night before. This criticism of the times gets criticized by those who have been conditioned to hate rich people (--the patriarchy et al) and it bothers me because Patrick Bateman was a caricature while Barry Cohen isn't.

I was given a watch as a high school graduation present. Two years later I was buying and selling them on eBay. I loved everything about them. When my friends got their first jobs, they solicited advice from me. When my friends got their second jobs, it turned out that many had taken up horology as a hobby and were keen on debating how to spend previously-unfathomable sums of money on stainless steel with a date window.

There's a certain point at which an aficionado becomes aware of the Universal Geneve Tri-Compax, which is featured prominently on Mr. Cohen's wrist. The sheer amount of research that would have been required for Gary Shteyngart to select this as the watch--and pick out the rest of the watches, and, hell, even the Japanese whiskey--is deserving of praise. Once I saw this model mentioned, I knew Lake Success was going to be my book of the year. And, even then, it exceeded my expectations.

Lake Success captures many of the insecurities of those pursuing careers in high finance. When you feel like you're on top of the world it's even harder to cope with having a disabled child. A problem that money can't easily solve. Or maybe Barry's son having autism is meant to be a criticism of the fact that there is a growing sect of the population who are so terrified of autism that they shun vaccinations.

It's real, it's scary, it's funny, it's timely, and I really want to deem it The Next Great American Novel.