Right Livelihoods

April 2, 2007
Heavily influenced by post-9/11 paranoia, Moody's mostly successful trio of novellas pits its wayward characters against conspiracies sometimes entirely imagined. Dr. James Van Deusen, the loquacious, alcoholic, patently unreliable narrator of "The Omega Force," relies on his background in a "cabinet-level agency" and a mass market thriller to unravel a murky plot that, in his hobbled head, involves locals and a group of "dark-complected" individuals targeting the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. "K&K," the weakest of the three, takes the hidden tensions of a small insurance brokerage's office to an absurd level as office manager Ellie Knight-Cameron investigates a string of bizarre anonymous suggestions left in the office's suggestion box. Ellie's obsession isn't quite believable, and the novella ends abruptly, as if Moody gave up on it. "The Albertine Notes," the strongest piece in the book, describes a future New York after a dirty bomb destroys much of Manhattan. Kevin Lee fills his reporter's notebook for a story about the new drug of choice, Albertine, which transports users into their most pleasurable memories. Kevin succumbs to Albertine as well, and the layering of hallucination and reality that follows demonstrates why Moody has a reputation as a deft stylist. Two out of three ain't bad.

April 15, 2007
Moody's writing reflects a penchant for contemporary American issues; in "The Ice Storm", for instance, the precarious political climate after the Watergate scandal influences the behavior of the novel's characters. It should come as no surprise, then, that the novellas collected here allude to post-9/11 life in America. In "The Omega Force," a tale rife with satirical meaning, the patriotic doctor defending the security of his domain against people who are "dark-complected" turns out to be a lunatic. Paranoia is also evident in "K& K" as an office manager finds some dissident messages in the company's suggestion box and suspects a conspiracy. The third, "The Albertine Notes," introduces an amateur journalist who, while researching the drug issue for a porno magazine, falls victim to drug culture and suffers from hallucinations that New York City is being obliterated. The unreliable and eccentric characters that so often populate Moody's novels again effectively remind us of the nation's collective hysteria. His convoluted narrative may challenge the patience of some readers, but those who persist will find it rewarding. Recommended for large public libraries and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/15/07.]Victor Or, Vancouver & Surrey P.L., B.C.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2007
In the three novellas collected here, Moody turns from the comic satire of " The Diviners" (2005) to more paranoid scenarios influenced by the aftermath of 9/11. In "The Omega Force," a retired government official obsessed with the plots of "dark-complected" foreign nationals wreaks havoc in his staid beachfront community. With his paranoia fueled by his recent calamitous fall off the wagon, Dr. Jamie Van Deusen staggers from one lounge chair to another, convinced that the community is under attack. In "K& K," lonely, overweight office manager Ellie Knight-Cameron becomes unnerved by the increasingly aggressive tone of the notes she finds in the office suggestion box, which have escalated from complaints about the bad coffee to threats against her life. Both of these novellas, though, seem mere previews to the piece de resistance, "The Albertine Notes," which has been previously collected both in " McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of "Thrilling Tales (2003) and " Year's Best SF 9" (2004). New York City struggles to survive in the aftermath of a bomb that has leveled 50 square blocks of Manhattan. Much of the remaining populace has become addicted to the drug Albertine, which allows its users to not only vividly relive their memories but also go back in time and change them. It's the perfect scenario for Moody's particular brand of swaggering wordplay, and he just runs with it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)