Tying the entire plot of a book around the angst which accompanies a milestone birthday can be a bit risky. Good thing that in Plan B: A Novel, the device is in the hands of Jonathan Tropper.

This is the second Tropper book I heave read in the past few months. The Book of Joe left me wanting a little more so I didn’t really know what to expect in Plan B. In the end, I found an entertaining read with fascinating characters and twists that made each chapter its own little ride.

The book follows five friends all dealing with the end of their 20s differently. What makes this group special is that one of them, Jack, is a major Hollywood action film star. Not only that, he has developed a nasty little coke problem.

So, like a warped version of the cast of Friends, they decide to do what they can to help Jack. Tropper’s clever interplay between the group leads to some interesting revelations as the plan (hence the title) spins out of control.

One of the reasons I really liked the way things moved was how he managed to fill in pretty much all of the back story without restorting to constant flashbacks. Ben, the narrator, has the strongest connection to pretty much each member of the group, allowing him to easily explain how they ended up in the current situation.

As I said in my review of The Book of Joe, the lack of depth in the main character kept me from going ga-ga over the book, and Tropper definitely made up for that in this one. The funny thing is, this was his debut and the oe I felt had more weaknesses was his second book. But I guess that kind of explains how the main character of his second book had trouble writing his second novel. I can only wonder if there were people who inspired Plan B who treated the author like the people of Bush Falls treated Joe.