Potboiler by Jesse Kellerman

by:  Jesse Kellerman
published by:  Putnam
publish date:  June 28, 2012

Arthur Pfefferkorn is a has-been, or perhaps a never-was: a middle-aged college professor with long-dead literary aspirations. When his oldest friend, bestselling thriller writer William de Vallèe, is lost at sea, Pfefferkorn is torn between envy and grief, for de Vallèe not only outshone Pfefferkorn professionally, but married the woman Pfefferkorn loved. 
Pfefferkorn’s decision to reconnect with de Vallèe’s widow sets in motion a surreal chain of events, plunging him into a shadowy realm of double crosses and intrigue, a world where no one can be trusted--and nothing can be taken seriously.

So this book is a weird one.  I liked it and I thought it was hilarious.  However, it's gotten a lot of not great reviews...I think the readers weren't getting the humor.

Arthur is a college professor who has written one book, a not so great book.  However, his best friend from school, William de Vallee went out and became a bestselling author writing political/spy thrillers.  Arthur is, of course, jealous of his success and the fact that he married the woman Arthur was in love with.  When William dies, Arthur has a chance to steal one of William's unread, unpublished manuscripts and pass it off as his own.  What Arthur doesn't know is that all of William's books were messages to undercover operatives and the changes that Arthur made to the manuscript have completely messed things up.  

Whenever you figure out this book isn't to be taken seriously, it gets to be a pretty good book.  I was about halfway or so and I was like "this can not be real".  I would recommend this if you're a fan of the spy/political thrillers.  So much in this book will make you laugh.