Charlie Goes Sideways by Bob Marsocci-review & interview

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 14, 2026

He had a one-way ticket to the top. Now, he’s sleeping in his childhood bed.

Math genius Charlie Garrity had a simple checklist: power, prestige, money. With an MIT Sloan MBA in his pocket and a dream job in the front office of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was rounding the bases toward a perfect life. Then came the blindside.

With his rocket-like trajectory abruptly stymied, Charlie is forced to do the one thing he swore he would never do: move back in with his zany, chaotic, filter-free family. Between his wine-guzzling mother’s weekly allowance, his weed-loving father’s high-stakes business pitches, and his curmudgeonly grandfather’s constant grousing, Charlie’s life has become a documentary of errors—literally, thanks to his aspiring filmmaker brother. To make matters worse, his older sister tries to guilt-trip him into joining her dog-walking business, and his younger sister manipulates Charlie into posing as a Speedo-clad art model.

Charlie is desperate to reclaim his once-lofty status, but when a path back to the top forces a choice between his ambition and his ethics, he has to do the hardest math of his life. He knows what he wants—but is he ready to calculate what he actually needs?

••••••

REVIEW: Charlie Goes Sideways starts with a blurb that feels familiar…. the high achieving young man who has everything mapped out… MIT Sloan, a dream job with the Dodgers, the clean trajectory of power and prestige… only to find himself suddenly derailed and sleeping in his childhood bedroom!

What follows isn’t a simple “back home to find himself” story, but more like a collision between Charlie’s carefully constructed self image and the loud, messy, unfiltered reality of his family. 😬

The wine guzzling mother with her weekly allowance demands, the weed loving father forever pitching high stakes schemes, the grandfather’s constant complaints, the brother turning the whole ordeal into documentary footage, the older sister pushing the dog walking business, and the younger one maneuvering Charlie into the Speedo modeling gig, all of it feels exaggerated in the way real families sometimes are, and the book leans into that exaggeration without apology. (I felt sorry for poor Charlie and exasperated most of the time! He just can’t get a break)

Charlie’s discomfort is on every page, every attempt to reclaim his old status is undercut by the chaos around him and then eventually by the ethical choice the plot forces him to confront.

What i liked was the quiet shift the story makes from pure farce toward something more pointed. The “hardest math of his life” isn’t just a clever tagline, it’s the moment the story asks whether the checklist Charlie once lived by still makes sense once the supporting structure of status is stripped away.

The book doesn’t lecture, but it does let the question hang… ambition is easy when it’s winning, when it asks you to compromise…. what do you actually need?!

It’s a brisk, character driven comedy with enough heart and enough bite to keep the laughs from feeling empty. I really liked Charlie, I wasn’t too keen on his freeloading family!

I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it.👍🏻

So does Charlie finally escape the family he loves? Or will he accept his lot in life? 🤐

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Julie B 🦋

TRC: Hi Bob and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Social Media: Amazon Author Page /Goodreads/ X (Twitter)/ Facebook/

BOB: I am a New England native, having grown up in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I moved to Southern California nearly 39 years ago after I graduated from the University of Rhode Island. I am married with two daughters (24 and 19, respectively), and we have the best dog in the world, an American Staffordshire Terrier named Blaise. I remain a diehard Red Sox and Patriots fan, and I am a car enthusiast – I love European sports cars (Ferrari, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, etc.) from the 1950s and 1960s. I was fortunate to be able to retire early and, in addition to writing, I usually play pickleball several times a week.

TRC: Who or what influenced your career in writing?

BOB: There wasn’t a particular person or incident that influenced my writing. I have always loved telling stories, especially writing. Over the years, I have read several novels that have inspired me to write.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties did you encounter writing and publishing this story?

BOB: I think the biggest challenge I encountered while writing (and rewriting) CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS was a nagging question in the back of my head: Is anyone going to care about my characters and this story? As an author, my goal is to make the reader want to turn the page. The reader may not like my protagonist or other characters, but if she/he is compelled to turn the page, I feel I have accomplished what I set out to do.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS?

BOB: I came up with the premise for CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS sometime during COVID. I read several stories about young adults (mid-20s to mid-30s) who had to move back into their parents’ house during COVID, because they were either laid off or couldn’t find a job. I wanted to write a story about a young adult (Charlie is 28) who had everything going for him: he is a brilliant math genius, and his career was on a rocket-like trajectory, but he got blindsided, and then his life spectacularly falls apart forcing him to do the one thing he swore he would never do: move back into his parents’ house and live with his zany, dysfunctional family.

TRC: Do you believe any of your characters in CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS have a fundamental flaw that may be questionable to the readers?

BOB: Given that Charlie is an arrogant math genius who just graduated second in his class from MIT Sloan, one of the top business schools in the world, I believed his fundamental flaw (his desire for power, prestige, and money) would resonate with readers. At one point, I did, however, question if his dad’s copious use of weed would be believable to the readers but stuck with it.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS?

BOB: I am a plotter (as opposed to a pantser) and spent considerable time developing the roadmap and outline for my novel. Before I began writing, I had already identified key plot points for the three-act structure, such as the inciting incident that would turn Charlie’s life upside down, as well as myriad scenes and storylines for Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. I also spent a good amount of time developing Charlie’s character arc: what is his character flaw, what would his transformation look like, and how would his worldview change from the beginning to the end of the story?

I am considerably older than Charlie, so I spent time researching the lifestyle of a 28-year-old guy – everything from music to movies to games they play on their phones. I spoke frequently with my nephew, who is in his early thirties, for his recommendations and ideas.

TRC: Believability is an important factor in writing and reading story lines. How do you keep the story line believable without sacrificing content or plot points?

BOB: I write contemporary fiction, which, as you know, takes fictional characters and puts them in the world today. Before I begin, and while I am writing, I ask myself whether a storyline or scene is believable or too far-fetched. I also rely on my beta readers for candid feedback. One of my CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS beta readers told me he thought the original ending I wrote was not believable. His feedback was particularly valuable as it made me go back to the drawing board (so to speak), and I wrote a new ending that I think is much better: it’s surprising and believable. Early in the novel, I included foreshadowing that came full circle at the end of the story.

TRC: Do you have plans for a series, and if so, will it continue to focus on the same characters?

BOB: Currently, I do not have plans for a series.

TRC: Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

BOB: I do believe the cover image plays a deciding factor, and I had a specific image in mind for the cover before I hired the cover designer. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with the designer over the cover design – everything from the color to the font to the image of my main character, Charlie. While we ended up going with a different image from the one I had initially envisioned, I think the cover image we chose of Charlie clearly conveys that he is going through a life transition, and that his life is about to dramatically change.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

BOB: This is an interesting question. I would say when writing a storyline, I primarily direct the characters based on the character profiles I created before writing the manuscript. While a character’s physical traits are important, I believe that a character’s motivation and his/her flaws, misbeliefs, wants, and goals are more important. A character’s inner journey and the transformation that he/she goes through are more important than the exterior journey (the things that happen to the characters).

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

BOB: I think a good writer pulls the reader into the storyline by putting him/her into the character’s head. What is the character thinking? How does the character feel, both mentally and physically? Why does the character behave a certain way? What is the character’s internal conflict? If a writer doesn’t put the reader in the character’s head, it leaves a lot for interpretation.

TRC: Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

BOB: I do listen to music while writing, primarily Reggae music and new wave 80’s music. For CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS, I did weave in, throughout the story, music playing in the background in bars, in Charlie’s car, and at his dad’s birthday party. Just about all the songs were either Reggae tunes or ‘80s new wave, such as the Talking Heads.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

BOB: People often ask me, “How long did it take you to write your novel?” I think the biggest misconception people have about authors is that they don’t realize that writing is rewriting and more rewriting. I lost count of how many times I rewrote scenes, paragraphs, even sentences. As mentioned, I scrapped and rewrote the entire last chapter of CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS after receiving feedback from one of my beta readers.

TRC: What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

BOB: When I was a kid, I was on a popular 1960s/70s TV show, Romper Room. My dad worked for the local ABC affiliate in Boston most of his career. As a result, my brothers and I appeared on Romper Room regularly.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

BOB: I am working on my next manuscript, which, like CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS, is contemporary fiction. My lead character is a woman in her late 40s whose near-perfect life suddenly unravels when she discovers divorce papers in the glove compartment of her husband’s car. Not only does she discover he wants a divorce, but when she confronts him, he also discloses he lost most of their savings in his friend’s now-defunct AI company, and as a result, he can’t move out of their home.

TRC: Would you like to add anything else?

BOB: I encourage anyone who has an idea for a novel to pursue it. Writing a novel is like driving cross-country. It can seem daunting, and it’s a long journey, but if you set small daily goals and achieve said goals, you’re on your way.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food
I grew up on Italian food, which to this day remains my favorite cuisine

Favorite Dessert
Authentic New York cheesecake

Favorite TV Show
Curb Your Enthusiasm

Favorite author
Dave Barry

Favorite sport
I enjoy watching NFL games and college football games

Last Movie You Saw
In the theatre, F1

Dark or Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate

Secret Celebrity Crush
Penelope Cruz

Last Vacation Destination
Newport, Rhode Island

Do you have any pets?
We have an American Staffordshire Terrier named Blaise, who we rescued several years ago. He’s a great dog!

Last book you read
I am reading MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES

TRC: Thank you Bob for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of CHARLIE GOES SIDEWAYS. We wish you all the best.

BOB: Thank you for this opportunity!