Hot Air

A Novel

By: Marcy Dermansky

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

A joyfully unhinged story of money, marriage, sex, and revenge unspools when a billionaire crashes his hot-air balloon into the middle of a post-pandemic first date.

Joannie hadn’t been on a date in seven years when Johnny invites Joannie and her daughter to dinner. His house is beautiful, his son is sweet, and their first kiss is, well, it’s not the best, but Joannie could convince herself it was nice enough. But when Joannie’s childhood crush, a summer-camp fling turned famous billionaire, crash-lands his hot-air balloon in Johnny’s swimming pool, Joannie dives in.

Soon she finds herself alighting on a lost weekend with Johnny the bad kisser, Jonathan the billionaire, and Julia, his smart, stunning wife. Does Joannie want Jonathan? Does Julia want her husband? Or Joannie? Or Joannie’s beautiful little girl? Does Johnny want Julia? Does Jonathan want Joannie, or Julia, or maybe, his much younger personal assistant, Vivian, who is tasked to fix it all? A tale of lust and money and lust for money, Hot Air is as astonishing as it is blisteringly funny, a delirious, delicious story for our billionaire era.

©2025 Marcy Dermansky (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"How can a simple mechanism like a hot air balloon bring so much joy and wonder? How can Dermansky pack so much incisive humor into 200 pages? Some things prove ineffable, like this multi-perspective story of a woman, her daughter, her personal assistant, her so-so suitor, her long-ago camp crush and his wife—all of whom spend a weekend together. Not only does it get off the ground, it soars, alternately fueled by cluelessness and bombast."—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times

“Unapologetically and pleasurably absurd....This novel is a romp, full of the witty, razor sharp prose characteristic of all Dermansky’s books. I cannot recommend this novel enough.”—Roxane Gay, New York Times best-selling author of Bad Feminist

"Marcy Dermansky has a rare talent for writing stories that are as emotionally charged as they are wryly funny. With Hot Air, she offers up another witty saga on relationships, power, and money."—Harpers Bazaar

Tedious

Being in these characters' heads is excruciating! They all basically have the same thoughts as each other, and have them over and over. None are likable or interesting.

Started strong but ended weak

This started out fast paced and interesting but it was as if the writer didn’t know how to end it. It just fizzled out. Definitely a disappointing ending.

Wonder was going to happen

Nothing happened and arrogant people. Now I know what auto fiction is!! No thanks! Don’t bother.

Quick read and interesting premise

The story doesn’t go where I thought it would, which made it interesting to listen to, and the depiction of the wealthy characters provides an interesting peek into what their psyches might actually be like. I found one of the characters gratingly annoying and the alliteration of the four adult characters’ names unnecessary as a device, but overall it’s a quick read and interesting premise. Not sure it will stay with me for a long while though.

It was soooo bad. I had to quit midway thru.

The narrator sounded like a five year old reading and pausing at each word. So annoying, but not as annoying as using the characters names over and over and over and over and over and over in each sentence. Terrible storyline. I do not recommend.

Annoying

Very unlikeable characters with a ridiculous plot or lack of a plot- only suffered through because it was a bookclub pick