FROM ZERO TO HERO… acquired by a new HMO, Flynn is convinced that the Secret Service has been infiltrated by the enemy. He escapes to save the day, and in the process, Flynn kidnaps a young Hispanic orderly named Sancho.
This crazy day trip turns into a very real adventure when Flynn is mistaken for an actual secret agent. Paranoid delusions have suddenly become reality, and now it’s up to a mental patient and a terrified orderly to bring down an insecure, evil genius bent on world domination.
Editorial Reviews:
“A brilliant homage to everyone’s favorite super-spy, and a hilarious, action-packed, made-for-the-movies thriller about a man suavely dancing along both sides of the thin line between heroism and madness.” —Matt Forbeck, New York Times bestselling author of Halo: New Blood
“Pacey and unrepentant fun, Haris Orkin’s You Only Live Once takes the James Bond mythos, gives it a swift kick in the backside and steals its wallet.” —James Swallow, New York Times bestselling author of Nomad
“Fill shaker with ice. Add equal parts Ian Fleming and Quentin Tarantino. Shake (do not stir). Garnish with Douglas Adams, and you get You Only Live Once, a delicious martini as dry as the dusty California desert.” —Dan Jolley, USA Today bestselling author of the Gray Widow Trilogy
“Haris Orkins’ You Only Live Once is a tour de force, brilliant, hilarious, and moving. Written with stunning style, it’s James Bond meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with a generous dollop of Don Quixote thrown in. All captured in prose that scintillates and pops, the book exploding in an extraordinary climax that is wildly funny and deeply moving.” —David Scott Milton, award-winning author of Paradise Road
“If you’re looking—and who isn’t?—for a sexy, slapstick, razzle-dazzle, rock’em-sock’em re-imagining of Don Quixote as James Bond emerging from deep cover in a mental hospital to save the world, Haris Orkin’s hilarious yet touching You Only Live Once is the book for you.” —Charles Harper Webb, award-winning author of Brain Candy
“You Only Live Once makes for an engrossing read offering many satisfying twists and turns. Fans of thrillers will be delighted by the various nuances Haris Orkin brings to the table as he introduces a quasi-hero who ultimately faces success despite himself. A healthy dose of humor and irony is added to create a story about a misfit in search of a mission.” —D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
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Loved it! Can’t wait to read the next James Flynn espionage caper.
One of the funniest books I’ve read. Very clever!
Great escape reading.
Could’t put it down. It is an awesomely funny (guaranteed to make you laugh out loud) spoof that warms your heart and leaves you with a smile on your face. I loved James, a real hero.
Awesome premise, great execution. Orkin has the remarkable ability to keep the reader straddled between a genuine spy thriller and an off-the-wall comedy, while never letting one genre overpower the other. The dialogue is spot-on and the characters are perfectly flawed. Looking forward to what’s next in this series.
Fellow bookworms, this is my favorite funny read of 2021! James Flynn may be missing a few marbles, but he more than makes up for it with wit, charm, brains, ability to kick ass with ease, and good taste in cars.
I haven’t been this enchanted by a character since Count Alexander Rostov in “A Gentleman in Moscow.” I think he and James must be distant cousins.
Truly funny fiction is hard to write, but I zipped through this book and hated to see it end. Thankfully, there’s a sequel, and I hope it’s the first of many.
Bravo, Haris Orkin!
A very entertaining book. Enjoyed it.
It started out as a fun read but didn’t last even to the middle.
Boring
A wild and fun ride. Would love to see this as a movie. I laughed out loud through the whole story.
A goofy, fun read.
This is a hilarious adventure of James Flynn with Sancho. I don’t want to spoil too much but this is just what I needed to listen to this week.
Quirky and unique are two adjectives that sprang to mind as I read You Only Live Once. Different from almost all the books I’ve read in the thriller genre. But in a good way because Orkin takes on a clever “What if?” twist to his story of a James Bond wannabe. The great story question he teases us with from page one is whether James Flynn is either a 00 agent or a crazy deluded guy who escapes from an institution and lives out his fantasy of being a true-life James Bond.
Some readers have objected to the foul language but I didn’t think it was over the top because I know people who drop f-bombs in almost every sentence they utter so to me, those characters are well within the realm of believability. I don’t care for the overuse of cursing myself, but it’s a stylistic choice all authors make–how our characters talk helps determine their personality and separates them from boring and cookie-cutter characters.
The reader needs to accept the formulaic plot for what it is, Orkin’s spin on classic James Bond fare. Plenty of authors write predictable plots if they have iconic characters: Ian Fleming and Bond, Lee Child and Jack Reacher, Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, et al. Nothing wrong per se with a “standard” thriller plot if the storytelling is entertaining.
I especially enjoyed Orkin’s naming Flynn’s two sidekicks Pancho and Dulcinea. That added credence to the romanticist slant of the book in that if Flynn is truly a mental patient, he’s channeling Don Quixote’s exuberant quest to save the day. I appreciated the fact they were two of the most reluctant allies I’ve ever read in fiction.
Orkin goes for a lot of humor, which is tough as a writer because humor is perhaps the most subjective of emotions. Kudos to him, although I didn’t laugh out loud or to myself often enough to give this a better rating. And some of the dialogue felt a bit forced and maybe not apropos of the characters. But he deserves credit for writing a story he would want to read (based on his bio, which makes Flynn a semi-autobiographical character.
I haven’t come across too many “comedic thrillers” in my reading journey, but this is certainly a credible representative of that subgenre.
A Laugh-a-Page Spy Spoof; Just Don’t Read the Author’s Synopsis!
Don’t read the synopsis because I’m convinced that the “twist” the author gives in the first two sentences of it will be that much more fun if you walk into the story unprepared. Of course, the same can be said of this review, so I’ll give you the bottom line upfront so you can stop after reading it:
If you enjoy laughing and pulling for the underdog, then pick up a copy of You Only Live Once. Overall, it’s often politically incorrect, frequently profane, and always great fun.
Well, I guess you don’t want to be surprised (since you’re still reading), so here’s the twist that I suggested you skip. James Flynn is a double-O spy in Her Majesty’s Secret Service a la James Bond … or so he believes. In fact, he’s “… a heavily medicated patient in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital.” The possibilities stemming from that satirical premise are many and largely humorous. Author Haris Orkin picks one that bestows some of the characteristics we associate with a world-class spy upon Flynn—he can tell if his martini has been stirred or shaken, for example. But in other cases, Flynn’s confidence is just part of his delusion, e.g., his expertise in flying an Apache helicopter is all fantasy. And while this constantly shifting ground of factual vs. imaginary beliefs keeps the plot moving and the laughs coming, it also detracts a bit when Orkin wants to create drama. In particular, some of the fight scenes are vicious, but it’s difficult to feel too concerned about Flynn when you never know if he’s going to beat everyone with a single finger or his laser pointer. The dilution of drama, however, is a small price to pay for all the laughs.
The issues in craft are small. There are a few typos, e.g., “She was even more beautiful then he remembered.” There are a few changes in point of view within a single paragraph. And while the author usually refers to the protagonist as Flynn, occasionally he’d say ‘James’ did something. Those missteps, however, are more than offset by the humor and the affinity you’ll feel for Flynn and his band of reluctant followers. In fact, by the end of the book, you may want to join them in the next installment. I know I do.
A spoof of the James Bond books.
Very entertaining
Just not my style