Pun Salad

I mentioned this on the default blogview a few days back: this is the first book I've read by Andrew Klavan. Without knowing too much, and having read some of his columns on the web, I was expecting a decent potboiler. But it was even better than I expected.

The book is narrated first-person by Jason Harrow, a seemingly ordinary guy, living in the Midwest with loving wife and a couple of kids. But right at the beginning, we learn he's getting death threats, and that the New York Times is in the habit of referring to him as "conservative Christian asshole Jason Harrow".

(OK, they don't quite say that. But, as Jason points out, for Times readers, the "asshole" is understood.)

What happened? Jason lets us know in the rest of the book. Travelling to New York on family business, he's summoned by ex-girlfriend Lauren to find out what happened to her teenage daughter, Serena. (And, as it turns out, maybe also Jason's daughter.) But it so happens that Serena is mixed up with some very bad dudes, and, once found, she spins Jason a lurid tale of a murderous conspiracy.

Lauren, Serena, and (generally) New York represent a part of Jason's life he'd rather forget: empty nihilism, kinky sex, familial dysfunction, and political leftism. And the conspiracy: is it real, or is it just a yarn spun out of proportion by Jason's (possible) inheritance of his mother's mental illness?

And what is the link to washed-up science fiction TV star Peter Piersall, who. Coincidentally I'm sure. Talks with the cadences. And self-important pomposity. Of the great. William. Shatner?

A very good, very easy read. Maybe a little overwritten for some tastes, but I found it part of the fun. Klavan is especially good at twisting the plot around Jason's character and biography. (Shameles extra commercialism: the Kindle version of this book is only $2.40, an insanely great bargain.)