(Read this as a 3 1/2 star review, please. Curse the lack of half stars!)Sometimes, I see a book and the title interests me enough that I read it without question. The title of this book demanded that I read it.
Essentially, what we have here is an exercise in middle school level humorous sociopathy. That's not a value judgement, because it actually is pretty funny. I am absolutely not ashamed of how much amusement I got out of Oliver's use of the Electrolyzer, or the cigarette messages. But this is an author who's worked on both The Daily Show and The Simpsons, so it had better be funny.
Oliver's status as third (ok, fourth) richest person in the world (but he employs a recovering alcoholic to be the public face of his financial empire) is, of course, wildly unrealistic, as is most of the stuff he uses his money on. It's also wildly unrealistic that he could masquerade as a complete and total simpleton for his entire life without anybody catching on. But we're working on the Rule of Funny here, so it passes. (I've seen one or two people speculate that Oliver's wealth and status is really the fantasy of a bullied kid, but I think that's even less plausible. Really.)
This is all in Oliver's voice, which is snarky, self-absorbed, and a blast to read. He obviously cares more than he lets on, about his mother and his need for his father's approval. The other star here is Tati, the only character to enjoy herself from beginning to end, and who may be even more of an evil genius than Oliver himself, with one of the funniest Xanatos Gambits I can remember seeing. I'd love to read a follow up from her perspective.