In The Fall of Princes, Robert Goolrick delivers a powerful, elegiac novel about the price of desire and the emptiness beneath material success. A sharp, haunting portrait of ambition, excess, and redemption.
 
In the glittering world of 1980s Manhattan, Rooney, a young Wall Street hotshot, has it all — money, power, and pleasure. But as the decade’s greed turns hollow, so does his life. Years later, living alone and haunted by memory, he reflects on the choices that brought him from penthouse glory to quiet solitude, searching for the meaning that eluded him in his youth.
 
Told with Goolrick’s signature lyricism, the novel captures the decadence and disillusionment of the 1980s — a decade defined by ambition and collapse. Through Rooney’s introspection, Goolrick explores themes of regret, nostalgia, and the fleeting nature of beauty and wealth.
 
A haunting meditation on memory and loss, The Fall of Princes is both a cautionary tale and a redemptive journey — a portrait of a man learning, too late, that love and compassion are the only true measures of wealth.
 
💖 Why You’ll Love It
Lush, lyrical prose that reads like a confession and a prayer.
A vivid, haunting portrayal of Wall Street excess and aftermath.
Deeply emotional, with themes of redemption and self-awareness.
Evokes Bright Lights, Big City and American Psycho with heart.
Goolrick’s storytelling is introspective, poetic, and unforgettable.
 
🌟 Perfect For
Fans of A Reliable Wife and The Great Gatsby.
Readers drawn to redemption arcs and reflective fiction.
Book clubs exploring ambition, regret, and moral reckoning.
Anyone who loves literary fiction about the human cost of success.
 
❤️ Fans Also Liked
If you enjoyed The Fall of Princes, you might also like:
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles — ambition and reinvention in New York.
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney — the highs and lows of 1980s Manhattan.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis — youthful excess and loss of innocence.