Loads of people-especially guys-love goofy, cartoonish movies. Loads of people-especially guys-love goofy, cartoonish TV shows. Loads of these same people don't read novels, because they can't find goofy, cartoonish novels to love. Where the hell are the goofy, cartoonish, lovable novels? You've found one. Right here. Right now. Stag is the literary equivalent of binge-watching Ted Lasso, or classic Simpsons-or it would be if those shows were loaded up with sex, blood and death. Like any good novel, it starts off kind of slow, and you'll be thinking, Is this really worth my time and attention, but around page 50 things start to kick in and soon enough you'll be totally hooked, you won't want to put it down until it ultimately explodes in a mind-blowing climax that'll leave you emotionally drained, yet wanting more.

When this happens, go have a brownie because the book is over. You've got to get on with your life. Read it again in a year. Here's the story: Stag is about Trevor, a newly-divorced suburban dad in Saanich BC, who in his loneliness starts sleeping among the deer who bed down in his back yard. When a doe is killed by a car, he adopts her fawn, and tries to raise her as wild as he can, which gets complicated when his neighbour hires a (female) bow hunter to rid the suburb of deer. Trevor starts up an odd friendship with Crystal, the bow hunter, even as he plots to thwart her plans to cull the deer.