Book Review: Threshold by Rob Doyle

Although Threshold is only Rob Doyle’s second novel, he’s already achieved cult status, and for good reason. The novel follows narrator “Rob Doyle” on a drug-fuelled adventure through various countries. Semi-autobiographical in nature, it blends fiction and reality seamlessly.

Doyle abandons a conventional narrative structure, instead telling the story through a series of vignettes about his past, threaded together by real-time letters.

The prose is punchy and darkly funny, as Doyle – or his character, if there’s even much of a difference – writes about failed relationships, hedonism and anxiety.

He’s constantly grappling with the meaning of life – searching for a purpose at times, at others running away from the very idea that life needs a purpose. There isn’t much of a discernible plot, though Threshold doesn’t suffer for it. Overall, a gripping and fun read.