Down Time: A Novel

by Andrew Martin

A terribly funny and lovably louche novel about five friends growing older, if not always up, from Andrew Martin, author of Early Work and Cool for America.

Without Cassandra, Aaron would probably be dead. Fortunately, she won’t leave him—despite the drinking, flirting, solipsism, armchair socialism, overspending, infidelity, catastrophic depression, and disparate but increasingly frequent spells of drug- and booze-addled debauchery. Unfortunately, she might be reaching the end of her rope.

Cass and Aaron, like the other neurotic, ambivalent intellectuals in their orbit, are getting older. There’s Malcolm, with his own alcoholism and marginally more successful writing career; his partner, Violet, a doctor with little patience for both; Antonia, a teaching fellow whose book about ecocide may get her tenure at a prestigious university near Harvard Square—yes, that one. When Sam, a charming trust-fund punk at the center of this loose network, dies suddenly, and a global pandemic takes hold, all five must contend with the lives they’ve their desires and disappointments, habits and hang-ups, pathologies and addictions, and the possibilities of making art and being good as the earth whirls to its end.

Down Time marks the delightful return of Andrew Martin, the author of the pitch-perfect slacker classics Early Work and Cool for America. Compulsively readable and contagiously intelligent, this is a wryly comic social novel of settling down, selling out, growing up, and getting out that turns a terribly funny and hyper-literate eye on our most desperately guarded to love and be loved, to know and be known, to stay sane, if only just.

Genres: Novels

Kindle Edition

Expected publication March 10, 2026

Reviews

[Tiernan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flew through this and would follow these characters anywhere. Clever, funny, gripping, and refreshing. It's tough to write a compelling "pandemic" book, but Andrew Martin has done it. So perfectly captures the millennial malaise of the early 2020s.

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an extremely relatable read for me not just as a millennial but as someone who can relate to parts of every character and obviously the pandemic as a back drop. The characters were great and so many themes hit home. As the characters navigate life, a pandemic, relationships, addictions, careers and losses it’s fascinating to watch it all unfold. I laughed, I cringed, I frowned. What an amazing book.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[sully · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

well written but i just don't think i want to read about the pandemic, ever.

edit: i did enjoy discussing it and i think it gave me a better appreciation for the parts that weren't during the pandemic, and the unique perspective of before/"after" and for this age in particular, but still i DON'T want to read about the pandemic. i do recommend the book tho. want to convey that for sure.

[James B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and FSG for the ebook. A very sharp and funny novel. After spending time with interesting young people, Cassandra and Aaron, Malcolm and Violet and Antonia, you begin to see why this intellectual generation never gets married, much less pulls it together enough to think about kids. Even as you laugh at the messes that they twist themselves into, you do want to reach into the pages and shake some common sense into most of them. When an old friend, Sam, suddenly dies it does make a few of them wonder how they’re living, it really takes a world wide shutdown to really make them face who they really are and try and change. Such a clear eyed book about who we are.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-observed set of character studies, but not one that ever really came together as an overarching story. 3/5.

Down Time by Andrew Martin is about a loosely-connected group of adults dealing with the challenges of early middle-age: career success (or not), addiction, owning their true sexual identities and their relationships with those around them.

On the main it does this ... fairly well. The prose is elegant and flows nicely, and the characters *feel* believable: you could imagine real people making these mistakes, having their lives run on (or off) course in this way, facing these problems and having them pervade their whole lives. There's also the occasional very sharp, on-point observation about human nature, as well as moments where characters do something that reminds you of people you know (or of yourself). These features are Down Time's greatest strengths.

However, as a novel... I'm not sure it really works. While character study works don't promise a lot in terms of plot, Martin's novel has next to none. To exacerbate things, the characters are, in the main, extremely loosely connected - so rather than feeling like a whole novel, it feels more like three novelettes (Cass/Aaron, Malcolm/Violet and Antonia) told in sequential instalments where these people's lives roll onwards. These factors together mean you don't get to see the characters interact with each other all that much, so a lot of the sense of character comes from description and narrative: 'tell' rather than 'show'. This feeling is exacerbated by the large time chunks between each character's instalment - often a good portion is taken up with telling you what happened since you last saw them.

On the whole, Down Time's cast feel like real people, but that's not quite enough to make this a successful, cohesive reading experience.

I'd cautiously recommended Down Time for those who want a little look at some of the struggles of middle age, less so for those who prefer a tighter, more driven story.

Finally, thank you to Adrew Martin, Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy of Down Time, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Chelsea Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

Down Time follows Cassandra, Aaron, Antonia and Malcolm as they navigate their lives including the Covid pandemic. Aaron is an alcoholic and relies on his girlfriend Cassandra to keep him alive. He cheats on her, embarrasses her with his drinking and expects Cassandra to pay for everything. She hasn’t left him but she is more like his mother than a girlfriend. Cassandra and Aaron are friends with Malcolm who has his own issues with alcoholism and depression. His girlfriend Violet is a doctor who doesn’t have much patience for Malcolm and struggles during the pandemic. Antonia wrote a book about ecocide and hopes it will get her tenure at a prestigious university near Harvard Square. Their friend Sam dies and then the Covid pandemic makes them contend with their lives.

This is such an excellent book and it is like it was written for me. I loved it and connected to each character. Each character had issues and it was easy to relate to how messy they were. None of these characters really know what they are doing with their lives and I just found that so relatable and realistic. It has the vibe of just living life day by day and seeing what happens. I didn’t think I would enjoy novels about Covid but I found this to be very cathartic. The writing was brilliant and I found this to be such a compelling read. This was told from the POV of each character and I found the character voices to be distinct and real. I will be recommending this and I think it should be on everyone’s anticipated books for 2026. I loved this so much and I cannot stop thinking about how good this was.

[ROLLAND Florence · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel takes millenial existential angst, dumps it with ice in a cocktail shaker, and serves it in design glasses in a hotel lobby.

It's fun, relatable, easy to read. Sometimes profound and sad. Doomed relationships that somehow survive "the test of time" because none of the characters finds the courage to leave... Instead, they cheat on each other. Lots of sex scenes, but here sex is another addition, a broken promise, and a desperate attempt to connect to people. It just makes sense, it goes with the flow of their lives. A lot of the novel revolves around New York and the cultural life of New York. The city has its own language and its own way of chewing out people, with its unaffordable real estate, easy access to drugs, and the pressure to make money in order to afford both.

And yet... Andrew Martin describes this network of friends (and all their problems) with tenderness. There is no judgement in this novel. He lets them fail, repeatedly, and picks them up along the way. They are millenials reaching their midlife crisis, and they definitely haven't got their lives together. But they have careers, and sometimes success even. What does it mean to age when you refuse to grow up? And what does growing up even mean, for a generation that collectively feels betrayed by their parents?

Add to that mix the sudden death of a friend, and a global pandemic. You will get a novel that is easy to read, fun, entertaining. I liked it. This is exactly the type of "easy read" that is perfect in between two more difficult books.

Thank you Andrew Martin, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and #NetGalley for a very nice ARC.

[Leanne Shearsmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down time follows a loosely connected group of friends as they try to make sense of early middle age and the years around Covid. It’s a pandemic novel that never feels gimmicky. It captures that strange, foggy period when everything stopped and people were forced to sit with themselves. Ambition and burnout, bad relationships, too much drinking, the sense of wanting to change but not quite managing it. It’s about people who keep messing up but are still, somehow, trying.

The characters feel real and a bit painful at times – funny, frustrating, often selfish but familiar. Martin doesn’t judge them, just shows them as they are. It’s not a book with a big plot, more like snapshots of people drifting through work, love, and loss, trying to figure out what being an adult is supposed to look like.

It’s sharp, funny in places, and sometimes quietly sad. I liked how honest it felt about ageing, friendship and the messiness of trying to get life together. If you like character-driven books that feel true to how people actually are, this one’s worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and Farrar, Straus & Giroux for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Swapna Peri ( Book Reviews Cafe ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Down Time" by Andrew Martin is a funny and smart novel about five friends in their late twenties and early thirties trying to figure out their lives. After their friend Sam suddenly dies and the COVID-19 pandemic hits, they all start thinking deeply about their choices, relationships, and what they want from life. The book looks at their struggles with love, work, addictions, and the pressure to grow up while still feeling lost. I found the characters real and relatable, and the mix of humor and emotion made the story very engaging.

The novel also captures the feeling of being young adults on the edge of midlife during a strange time in history. Each character faces their own problems and tries to make sense of their lives in different ways. The story is sharp and sometimes sad, but also funny and full of honest moments. It’s a good read if you want a book that shows how complex and confusing growing older can be, especially with the world changing around us.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Martin writes about flawed, restless people with such precision that it almost hurts. Down Time is a novel about aging without really growing up, about clinging to bad habits and old identities even as life insists on moving forward. The book is funny—sometimes painfully so—but underneath the wit there’s real tenderness for these characters, even when they’re at their worst. What struck me most was how Martin balances satire with empathy; I found myself laughing one page and then quietly gutted the next. It’s a sharp, humane novel about friendship, failure, and the messy search for meaning.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing an eARC of Down Time prior to publication.

[Gergely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Down Time by Andrew Martin ☁️

Martin offers intimate portraits of a group of adults stumbling through the messiness of midlife - shifting careers, addictions, relationships, and long-avoided truths.

Many moments feel drawn straight from real experience and the characters are really believable, although ultimately forgettable and uninteresting. But the book’s fragmented structure (each characters's POV doesn't connect to other much) and minimal plot/lack of character development keep the novel from fully coming together. At times insightful, but didn't really work for me.

3⭐️

Thank you to Andrew Martin, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Debumere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set before, during and after the Covid pandemic, we follow a set of millennial friends as they grapple with what seems like perpetual discontent.

I read this in fits and starts and I believe this is the wrong way to do it. I couldn’t remember who was who and how they were connected to X, Y and Z.

The main male characters were miserable while the female characters (most) had a bit of get up and go about them.

I did lose the plot (literally) when switching between couples, trying to remember the connections and their stories

An unremarkable, unassuming read but intriguing in equal measures.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Strauss and Giroux for this ARC.

[Sir John Feelgood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had that melancholy feeling, finishing this, knowing it’ll be a long time until I read something so funny, perceptive, and well-written again.