The Hike by Drew Magary: The Odyssey for Suburban Dads (If Odysseus Did Psychedelics)

The Hike is aggressively weird. Not quirky weird or whimsical weird, but the kind of weird that makes you stop reading and ask "what is happening?" multiple times per chapter. It's The Odyssey for suburban dads, if Odysseus did psychedelics. Drew Magary's frenetic novel follows Ben, an ordinary guy who goes for a hike before a dinner meeting and gets trapped in a nightmare world where the only rule is "stay on the path, or you will die." It's unsettling, relentlessly strange, and somehow one of the most emotionally honest stories about love and persistence you'll ever read.