The Wrong Doyle

by Robert Girardi

Tim Doyle's uncle has left him a dilapidated mini-golf course and a broken-down bar. When all the wrong people pressure him to sell out fast, Tim starts to wonder if there is something to the rumors of treasure his pirate ancestor is reputed to have left somewhere along the mysterious coast.

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2003

About the author

Robert Girardi is the author of four previous novels and one volume of novellas, all of which have been widely translated. He has written for film and television. His nonfiction pieces and reviews have been published in The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The New Republic, The National Review and Landscape Architecture Magazine, among other publications. A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and USC Film School, Girardi has received a James Michener Fellowship. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his three children.

Reviews

[Christopher Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Girardi explores human nature with flawed characters and odd circumstances. With pirates, Paris, mini-golf, and treasure, The Wrong Doyle delights readers who enjoy the bizarre twists of life that can lead to the oddest of discoveries.

[Becca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book sounded interesting. Minature golf and pirates and the Irish...how could one go wrong? Well, fairly wrong, I would say. This book seemed to have no point to it. It's about a man whose name is Tim Doyle who moves back to the Southern US after his marriage and subsequent fling fall apart to his recently deceased uncle's mini golf course. Here he finds that everyone wants him to sell the course and his family is despised by the local population. I kept waiting for the book to get interesting and make it's point but it never seemed to quite get there. Flashbacks of family history were interesting but only seemed to prove the point that the Doyle family was nothing but trouble. Overall, the cover jacket was more of an intersting read than the book itself.

[Zan G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is kind of a lame mystery novel that I picked up a while back. It has a nice twist on normal pulp novels, modernizing it and adding some reasonable comedy by being very conscious of the genre it's a part of. There is a lot of talk of pirate treasure and there's a great deal of rather pointless sex and a gunfight in a dilapidated miniature golf course that would do the Joker proud. Actually, the more i talk about and remember of this book the more i remember enjoying it, so I'll add another star. It's a good guilty pleasure if you are into simulated crappy pulp novels. Check it out.

[emily]

So the guy writes one book i really really love, The Pirates Daughter, and then everything else he writes, i kinda hate. But I'm gonna try 20 more pages before I cast it aside.

***

blech. forget it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book by accident in the library, and knew I had to read it, after reading the blurb that mentioned pirates, buried treasure, and putt-putt golf. It was a fun little book.

[Cher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining!

[Carole Noman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite Girardi novel but still very good. Very funny in parts.