From the author of SKIPPY DIES comes Paul Murray's THE BEE STING, an irresistibly funny, wise and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.

The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under --- but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay, while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way through her final exams. And 12-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home.

Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favor to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil. Can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written, is there still time to find a happy ending?