Intense and densely layered, Involuntary Bliss is the latest intriguing story from awardwinning young writer Devon Code. Situated in modern-day MontrÔeal during a weekend in late August, two young men come together in an attempt to restore their friendship. From the streets of MontrÔeal's Plateau to the mountainous hillsides of Machu Picchu and beyond, this high-spirited picaresque investigates themes of mortality, idealism, and transgressive art from the perspective of young adults, in a novel comprised of incidents by turns comic, erotic, tender, and harrowing. In conceiving of this novel, Code took as influence such works as Roberto Bolan̳o's By Night in Chile and Horacio Castellanos Moya's Senselessness. With its dark humour and elements of psychological compulsion, Involuntary Bliss also follows in the tradition of Franz Kafka, while its eroticism, narrative momentum and intimations of violence align well with the novels of Haruki Murakami.