Joe's girlfriend Jen died after falling from an upper-storey window when they had just left school.
Three years on, he is in two dead-end jobs, at a bar and a cafe, and spends his free time practising parkour (the art of running, climbing and jumping rails, pillars and walls, derived from military obstacle course training) to atone for the guilt he feels.
He does good work: repainting his mother's home, mentoring teenager Deck, and helping at his Uncle Todd's nursery.
Meanwhile, Elise visits the tigers at Melbourne Zoo every Thursday morning as her marriage breaks down.
Both are supported by well-drawn minor characters.
Elise has best friend Jill and son Carl to talk to.
Joe has his mother and his flatmates. Sanjay, whose father owns the flat, is studying botany, and he also helps Uncle Todd whose arthritis means he can no longer cope with his business.
Another flatmate, Jack, joins Joe on a fishing trip to see how Deck is coping in a new home situation.
Then there's the nurse who moves into the flat's lean-to, Lena who works at the bar, and a Facebook friend called Emily Dickinson (Jen's favourite poet).
Even the sisters who run the cafe are sympathetic.
The rollicking ride through Melbourne's streets is alive with food, drink, sport, trams and music, and the action leaps from figure to figure.
The dialogue is mainly apt, but an instance of inappropriate swearing put me off a clue.
As the novel progresses, disguised hints are evident, and past events and connections are uncovered.
The zoo tigers, although ''washed of their wildness'', have their own personalities, and there are several feline references: the cat leaps and balance that Joe uses, felid eyes, a satiated ''cat full of cream'', people ''padding down the hallway like a cat'' or ''silent as a cat''.
Ten percent of the book's royalties will go to the WWF Save the Tigers Now campaign, so I recommend you get your paws on a copy.
• Rachel Gurney is an avid Dunedin reader.
