The Regional Office Is Under Attack!

Four narrators tackle Gonzales's cheeky take on mystical powers, secret organizations, and the shadowy forces of evil. Sarah Scott and Susan Hanfield capture, with exasperation and prickly personalities, the stories of two young women who are on opposite sides of the attack on the Regional Office. Mike Chamberlain balances pathos and humor in his portrayal of the hapless office workers caught in the fray. Natasha Soudek is given the most difficult task--interstitial sections in the style of an academic paper that give the listener background on the founding and eventual dissolution of the Regional Office. While her dry, repetitive narration is appropriate for the topic, it's less than engaging for the listener and drags down what is otherwise an irreverent and enjoyable listen. E.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

February 1, 2016
Gonzales, already the author of an excellent story collection (The Miniature Wife), offers an intricate, if frustrating, debut novel about a subterranean superhero organization under attack by its own rogue operatives. Split between characters on both sides of the ambush—Rose, hoping to overthrow the Regional Office, and Sarah, bound to protect—the narrative not only bounces between perspectives in short, propelling chapters, but also pinballs in time, revealing, amid the chaos, the history of the clandestine Manhattan-based society, which recruits young women with extraordinary powers to protect the world from terrors unseen by average citizens. Tucked a mile underground (beneath an office dealing in luxury getaways for the rich and famous), these women train and receive assignments from people like the charming Henry, and founding leaders Mr. Niles and the mysterious Oyemi, but when an internal rift finds Henry at odds with his superiors, he organizes a revolt. Gonzales writes with an abundance of imagination, riffing on comic book and pop culture plot lines and characters while adding his own unique perspective. The novel is not as satisfying as his short stories, and it occasionally feels overextended, but there are moments of brilliance. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.