The book centers on the mostly self-destructive characters of different ages who, as they grow older, are sent in unforeseen, and sometimes unusual, directions by life.

Many of the stories take place in and around New York City, although other settings include San Francisco, Italy, and Kenya.

A Visit from the Goon Squad has 13 chapters, which can be read as individual stories and which do not focus on any single central character or narrative arc.

[4] "Goon squads" were originally groups of violent thugs sent to assault workers who tried to form labor unions.

Later the term "goon" came to refer more generally to any violent thug, and this is where the book draws its central metaphor.

Rock and roll, with its emphasis on youth culture, plays into the book's themes of aging and the loss of innocence.

Egan said she knew rock and roll only as a consumer at the time she began writing the book and had to do a lot of research on the subject.

[16] In commenting on her Pulitzer, NPR critic Jonathan Bastian noted that "Egan is one of the most recent and successful examples of a trend that has been steadily seeping into the world of contemporary literature."

[24] In 2023, A24 announced that it had optioned the rights to the book and its sequel The Candy House for development into a television series with Olivia Wilde.