I have never been on a cruise and have no desire to do so. Maybe that’s why I’m consistently drawn to novels about cruise vacations that go awry.

In this case, the cruise in question --- a Thanksgiving weekend cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel --- might be going great for the 2,973 people still on board the Valor. But for Patrick “Kick” Kilpatrick, it is anything but a pleasure boat excursion. That’s because, after a night of karaoke and too much drinking, he’s found himself over the side of the railing of the Valor. He’s treading water somewhere in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

Fortunately for Kick, he’s in amazing shape (as he’d be sure to point out himself). Not only was he a one-time state swimming champion in Nebraska, he still makes his living doing physical therapy and personal training. Kick (and the reader) has a big question to ponder: Did he fall overboard, or did he jump? 

"[MAN OVERBOARD!] is designed to prompt reflection with life’s big questions --- and why they’re worth continuing to grapple with even when things get hard."

Why would a virile young man in the prime of life --- with a loving family, a devoted girlfriend, and the ability to go on cruise vacations --- even think that the latter might be an option? As the hours pass and Kick reveals more of his family and personal history, the reasons begin to come to light. 

It turns out that Kick has never gotten over his mother’s decision --- shortly after recovering from a serious battle with cancer --- to leave the family and her career as a teacher and set off for an entirely new life in Chicago. Just before the cruise vacation, his mom reached out with a request to meet. Kick hasn’t known how to deal with that, or with the desire of his longtime girlfriend to formalize their relationship. He has always felt like his mom abandoned them. So why shouldn’t he follow in her footsteps and abandon life altogether? 

Each chapter in Kathleen Rooney’s fascinating novel is set during a single hour of Kick’s long night (and the following day) of the soul. He keeps himself afloat (literally) by predicting, even after being proved wrong time and again, that “[w]ithin the next hour, somebody’s going to rescue me.” In his first-person narration, Kick’s mind understandably wanders --- from his early years, to the nature of his relationships, to speculating about how his family back on the Valor is responding to his disappearance, if at all. At times, he holds (or imagines?) conversations with various sea creatures, who impart wisdom or encourage him to change his perspective. Are these real or hallucinations? That’s up to us to decide. 

We also will need to suspend some considerable disbelief. Kick’s physical fitness notwithstanding, it’s difficult to imagine anyone surviving 15+ hours treading water without training for that purpose. And there’s a deus ex machina coincidence at the end that also strains credulity. 

However, the function of MAN OVERBOARD! is not as an explicitly realist novel, despite the fact that it dives deep into very real and at times dark emotional territory. Instead, it is designed to prompt reflection with life’s big questions --- and why they’re worth continuing to grapple with even when things get hard.