A review by Nalini Haynes
A review by Nalini HaynesKevin Dwyer is a loner who wanted a career in studying tides but his father insisted he become an accountant. Now he’s all grown up and working in the Australian Taxation Office as a forensic accountant, a job that switches people off. He’s content attending trivia competitions and seeing his nephew, 8-year-old Patrick, with whom he gets on well.
His sister is a bitch, though. She made his formative years as hellish as she could and still seeks to control him. Unfortunately, Kevin allows his sister too much control over his life.
Anyhoo, Kevin rocks up to a new trivia competition after dropping out of the other 3 he usually attends. Not sure why other than his sister was nagging him to drop out of trivia competitions.
Kevin is a trivia king so the other teams try to head-hunt him. He finds the women terrifying.
Maggie, however, shows an interest in Kevin’s job so Kevin joins her team.
The team is fraught with relationship issues: the only other male is Edward, a domineering asshat who doesn’t like being shown up even when it means his team scores more points. Carol, Edward’s wife, is the peacekeeper. She also works at the same school as all the other women in the team. Ash and Mei are a lesbian couple who work together but keep their relationship secret. Maggie is a 50-something spinster with a dog and a crush on her ex.
The Trivia Man follows developments in the present juxtaposed with formative experiences of several of the characters.
Along the way we experience several trivia nights in the competition, including many trivia questions and some answers. If you’re a completionist, you’re going to want to look up the answers to a lot of the questions.
A relationship- and character-driven story, The Trivia Man is a must for people who love trivia competitions and romance.
Rating: 
3 out of 5 stars
ISBN: 9780857988027
Format: ebook, 320 pages
Publisher: Bantam (Random House)
