A Little More Human

February 20, 2017
Maazel’s (Woke Up Lonely) third novel blends science fiction, satire, farce, literary mystery, and comic book adventure that probes the human heart even as it describes drugs and robotics propelling us into a bionic, posthuman world. During the week, nursing assistant Phil Snyder works at SCET, his family’s Staten Island biotech firm specializing in new and experimental treatments for brain injuries, while weekends he dresses up as popular superhero Brainstorm for toy stores and children’s events. Like Brainstorm, Phil can read minds; unlike Brainstorm, his life is spiraling out of control. Without his knowledge, his wife has become pregnant through a sperm bank. His father, Doc, an SCET cofounder, is rapidly succumbing to dementia. Worst of all, Phil receives four photos in the mail showing him in his Brainstorm costume, stripped to the waist, standing over a battered woman. Unable to remember what happened the night the photos were taken, Phil seeks out the victim, Effie, and embarks on a journey involving an unidentified dead body and a series of unanswered questions. Maazel’s clever, incisive prose makes the roller-coaster plot a fun if exhausting ride.

February 1, 2017
Fresh fiction from the author of Woke Up Lonely (2013) and Last Last Chance (2008).The story begins with Phil Snyder astride a horse, dressed in the blue Spandex costume of a superhero named Brainstorm. Phil is just waking up from an alcohol- and karaoke-fueled stupor, and the image is arresting--funny and pitiful at the same time. But, as the crowd assembled before him starts clamoring for autographs and photos, it's impossible not to wonder why parents don't shepherd their children away from a supposed superhero in tights caked in mud, blood, and algae. It's easier to accept that Phil can actually read minds, just like Brainstorm--which he can--than it is to imagine grown people letting their youngsters anywhere near this obviously troubled imposter. This is one of the challenges of writing in the absurdist mode. How much is too much? When do readers willingly suspend disbelief, and when do they dig in their heels? Fans of Maazel's earlier work will undoubtedly keep reading and find much to like here. Phil isn't just an honest psychic freak who pretends to be one on the weekends. He's also a nursing assistant at a facility that specializes in cognitive disorders and a man about to become the father of a child his wife conceived with sperm she purchased without his knowledge. For someone who can read minds, Phil is easily flummoxed, and the limits of his ability to understand anyone at all are put to the test when he's presented with evidence that he, himself, has committed a terrible crime that he does not remember committing. Maazel gets the manifold ways in which contemporary life is ridiculous. She also understands the ways in which comedy trends toward disaster. And, finally, she's smart enough to interrogate the ways in which comedy and tragedy are the same. A treat for Maazel's fans.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 15, 2017
On weekends, Phil has a job dressing up as Brainstorm, a superhero with mind-reading powers. What nobody knows is that Phil himself really can tap into other people's thoughts. That special ability is pushed to its limits when Phil wakes up one morning with his costume bloodied and torn and no memory of the previous night. He's given photos that appear to show him assaulting a woman in the park, and the complicated machinery of the novel is set in motion. As Phil desperately tries to recover what happened that night, he is also confronted with challenges where he works at the SCET, a biotechnology institute founded by his parents. The SCET is doing groundbreaking work, but it increasingly seems to be up to something sinister, too. The story's twists and turns, which can come at blistering speeds, also involve detective work by Phil's father, who is hiding his encroaching dementia, and a first-time scammer trying to afford her mother's medication. Maazel takes a dark, inventive look at the cost of pushing humans to their limits.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2016

Bard Fiction Prize winner Maazel crafts the story of Phil Snyder, troubled by his wife's betrayal, his father's early-onset dementia, and the experimental surgery done at the biotech facility where he works. And now he may have assaulted a woman in a drunken blackout. Time for the mind-reading skills he uses as the costumed superhero Brainstorm.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017

Phil Snyder can read minds, a superpower that serves him well in his job as a nursing assistant at a Staten Island biotech hospital and is even more useful in his part-time job at a toy store, where he engages customers as the superhero Brainstorm. While it seems that mind reading should help keep his life on track, it's actually no help at all when he wakes up after a night he can't remember. As he tries to unravel the mystery of what happened to him, he must also reconnect with his estranged wife and his ailing father. Complications mount as blackmailers coerce him into having a memory chip implanted in his brain, and the conspiracy grows ever more complex and difficult until he realizes that the power of the chip in his brain can solve his problems. This chaotic and humorous romp by award-winning author Maazel (Woke Up Lonely) will challenge readers to keep up, consider the pros and cons of biotechnology, and ask pertinent questions about the choices we're presented by life and what we can or should do about them. VERDICT Recommended for Maazel fans, lovers of tragicomedy, and all who enjoy the absurd. [See Prepub Alert, 10/10/16.]--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.