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Rick Blanco is no different from any other office slave—he hates stupid office meetings. What makes him special is he’s done something about it. Following in the footsteps of Bob Watson — a former colleague and office illusionist — he’s perfected the art of ditching meetings.

Now, Rick wants to pull off his most important Bob Watson yet—skipping out of work to go on a date with the woman he’s chased for years. All she requires is that he treat his precocious young nephew to his own Bob Watson, and a break from a life filled with stress, college prep, and mandatory overachievement. The day is as exciting as Rick could have wanted, but not in the way he hoped. Mistaken for one of the most notorious HR executives in the world, Rick is soon forced into six hours of mayhem, complete with home break ins, a large bag of cash, a variety of naked people and an emergency board meeting he may not be able to escape.

Along the way, Rick realizes there might be an important reason behind everything. Well, except for the bottle of Wesson Oil.

“Bardsley renders the absurd credible in his hilarious ‘Bob Watson.’ … One of the more zany and imaginative novels to arrive on bookstore shelves.” — San Jose Mercury News

“A madcap, riotous adventure. … Bardsley excels at fast-paced, observational wit that manages to poke fun at our modern life while adding a little heart.” — Booklist

“A fresh satire that is both spot-on and hilarious.” — Tim Dorsey, New York Times bestselling author of  Florida Roadkill

“The most fun book I’ve read in a long, long time.” — Jessica Anya Blau, bestselling author of The Trouble with Lexie

“Likably wry and dementedly screwball.” — Lou Berney, Edgar Award winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway Gone

“For those who have resented sitting through drawn-out, tedious work meetings, Greg Bardsley’s second novel will immediately strike a chord. … Through his colorful, cinematic lens, even the most mundane settings contain hilarity and humanity.” — Shelf Awareness

“Pays homage to all the worker bees stuck in corporate meetings. Goes awry with mistaken identity and mayhem.” — Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Greg Bardsley has a keen sense of the absurdity of everyday life, particularly Corporate America. But he gets the real things right, too, like all the messy stuff that makes us human. My advice: ditch your next meeting and start reading. You won’t regret it.” — Matthew Norman, author of We’re All Damaged

“Fasten your seatbelt. THE BOB WATSON is a madcap race against time and conflicting priorities in California’s go-go Silicon Valley—a raucous parody of the valley’s twisted family and corporate values.” – Al Riske, author of Precarious, Sabrina’s Window, and The Possibility of Snow

“The Bob Watson is wonderfully inventive, decidedly absurd, and sidesplittingly funny. I pulled a ‘Bob Watson’ – abandoning friends, family and work – and raced through it in a day.” – Mark Richardson, author of Hunt for the Troll