Read an excerpt posted on Vol. 1 Brooklyn

What happens when the life you are living is no longer the life you imagined? When you are well and truly stuck? A darkly comic tale of longing and legacy, Balloon Dog, the fourth novel from best-selling ghostwriter Daniel Paisner, prompts readers to consider what it means to leave a mark and what it takes to be swept up in the same currents that move almost everyone else.

A brazen art heist pushes our protagonists to reflect on the choices they've made—and the ones that have been made for them. Set in the near-present, the story turns on the ill-conceived theft of a high-end Jeff Koons sculpture, lifted in plain sight from its perch beside a luxurious mountain home in Park City, Utah, and follows the musings, misadventures, and meeting of minds of a Long Island writer in midlife crisis and the art thief behind the ill conception.

Balloon Dog poses two central questions: Is the transformative power of art enough to lift us from our days? And what is art, anyway?

"... a risk-taking and uplifting literary novel that brings art into the everyday."—Mari Carlson, "Foreword Reviews"

"Imagine a literary mash-up of The Hot Rock and A Serious Man and you have a sense of where this novel is coming from—but not of the surprises it has in store."—Tobias Carroll, author of Reel and Ex-Members

"Balloon Dog is my favorite kind of novel—darkly comic, great characters and snappy dialogue, and not afraid to go to wild places with its plot. I loved it. Kudos to Daniel Paisner!"—Annie Hartnett, author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals

"Darkly funny and painfully true, Balloon Dog proves that the unknowable road of life is best handled by experienced drivers: those who know only that twists are coming, and trust they'll be able to navigate them in their own imperfect way when they do."—Laura Zigman, author of Separation Anxiety

"Balloon Dog is great company, and full of surprises—at once an art heist and domestic drama, an astute reflection on value and a poignant meditation on middle age. This novel is a breath of fresh air."—Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State

"Daniel Paisner's Balloon Dog is a little bit of everything—rumination on life, desire, regret for the paths we choose and those we've walked and to which we can no longer return. It's also a heist novel and a psychological thriller, what might result if Philip Roth and Elmore Leonard wrote a book together. In the end, Balloon Dog is a magnificent and magnificently-written rendering of life on all sorts of margins, and one you won't want to miss!"—Ted Flanagan, author of Every Hidden Thing

"Daniel Paisner has a winner on his hands—actually, we all win here. How often is a book this funny, exciting and intensely stylish, all at once? Paisner does a masterful job—well-plotted, fast-paced, and a hell of a read."—Darin Strauss, author of The Queen of Tuesday and Chang and Eng

"Funny, insightful, and original, Balloon Dog delighted me on every page. Daniel Paisner writes with gusto, intelligence, and a voice so fresh I was entirely enchanted. What a joy to read!"—Ellen Meister, author of Farewell, Dorothy Parker and Take My Husband

"Funny, smart, and populated with empathetic, unforgettable characters you wouldn't mind teaming up with for an art heist. Daniel Paisner's fiction pen hasn't lost an ounce of ink. A yarn you're not going to want to put down."—Daniel Ford, author of Black Coffee and host of the Writer's Bone podcast

"Balloon Dog beautifully captures the inner lives of its characters, their disappointments, regrets, and hopes, the joys and absurdities of our modern world. An art theft, mid-life crises, marriage, divorce, intimacy, parenthood, caring for an aging parent, and the lures of money and social media all converge in Daniel Paisner's wonderfully funny, inventive, insightful novel." - Ronna Wineberg, author of Artifacts and Other Stories