A Visit from the Goon Squad is a novel told through a series of interconnected stories that move across time, place, and perspective, centering on the music industry and the lives it shapes. At its core are Bennie Salazar, a record executive grappling with the erosion of his once-passionate connection to music, and Sasha, his troubled assistant, whose past continues to haunt her. Their lives intersect with a wide cast of characters—friends, lovers, collaborators—each navigating their own paths through changing times.

As the narrative shifts between decades and viewpoints, the novel traces how choices, relationships, and ambitions ripple outward, linking lives in unexpected ways. From punk rock scenes in San Francisco to corporate boardrooms and distant futures shaped by new technologies, the story explores the passage of time and its effects on identity, creativity, and connection.

Innovative in structure and deeply human in its insights, A Visit from the Goon Squad examines memory, reinvention, and the inevitable transformations brought by time—the “goon” that comes for everyone. It is a portrait of lives in motion, where meaning emerges not from a single story, but from the accumulation of many.