“Unexpectedly, Milo” – A synopsis

Since I posted about the sale of my next book, I’ve received several requests for a synopsis from booksellers, friends, relatives, and a few strangers.

I adore my agent, Taryn, for many reasons, including her honesty, her unwavering support, her extensive expertise, and her friendship, but I also love the way that she can summarize my books. When asked to do so myself, I sound like a blithering idiot, unable to condense 100,000 words into a couple of meaningful paragraphs. When asked what my book is about, I often point to my wife, who can do so much more effectively than I ever could. And Taryn also seems to do this with ease, and somehow, the book sounds even better after she’s done so.

So here is Taryn’s summary of Unexpectedly, Milo which I believe she wrote while on a run one afternoon.

So annoying. I can barely run while on a run, and she’s writing a synopsis of my book in her head.

It’s great; she used it while pitching the book. It’s not an official synopsis, as the manuscript has not been edited yet, and some things could still change, but I think it’s a pretty accurate reflection of the story and its protagonist.

Unexpectedly, Milo

Milo’s marriage is failing, and he can’t figure out why. After all, he’s managed to hide his weird compulsions—the demands he cannot ignore—from his wife for over three years. From time to time, he is inexplicably compelled to open the pressure seal on jelly jars, break ice cubes from their trays, bowl a strike, and do other, more inconvenient activities. He’s carefully kept his demands secret since childhood.

When Milo finds a video camera and a bag of tapes on a park bench and begins to watch the apparent video confessional of a woman unburdening her deepest secrets, he connects with this stranger in a way he’s never done with a real person… He finds her brave for voicing her secrets when he’s struggled with his own for decades. As his marriage continues to crumble around him, he decides to do something radical: to help this video diary stranger by attempting to solve a mystery that has secretly plagued her for years. With plenty of jelly jars in the trunk of his car, Milo sets out on an adventure which quickly sidetracks as his un-ignorable demands call. But it is on the sidetracks that the true meaning of his adventure takes shape. Milo is weird, but as he discovers, so is everyone else.

Unexpectedly, Milo is a humorous and touching novel about finding oneself, embracing the journey, and, unexpectedly, love. Once again, Matthew Dicks, author of Something Missing, has created a strange but lovable anti-hero, one whose behavior is truly odd but also oddly relatable.