It's 1984 and in the town of South Wakefield, 14-year-old Chris Lane is sure that he can see the future, or at least guess what's inside of Christie Brinkley's mind. Unfortunately, he can't foresee the closing of Joyland, the town's only video arcade. As the arcade fades from his life, Chris is forced to find a new source of entertainment, and ends up getting more than he bargained for - a summer of teenage lust and violence.
Joyland is about the impossibility of knowing the future, bringing the Cold War home in a novel set to the digital pulse of video games and the echoes of hair metal.