A Failure To Appreciate

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Do you ever have the feeling that you’re out of it, or out of step, or out of your mind? You know, those moments when people tell you how much they loved “Shrek 2,” which, if memory serves, was the highest grossing film of the year, and you had just seen it and thought it was more boring than an Al Gore speech.

Or when friends or colleagues tell you that, while it was a little more expensive than a new car, the dinner at Per Se was so sublime that it was worth it, yet you went on a very special occasion a week ago and can’t recall a single dish, feeling that the only bigger rip-off was dinner at Alain Ducasse.

Inevitably, I suppose, since my world is mainly about books, this happens to me with certain authors. It goes both ways, too. There are some writers who I think are so brilliant, so talented, so original, so powerful, so poetic that I am astounded when they fail to capture the gigantic readership I am convinced they deserve. James Crumley, Charles Mc-Carry, Thomas H. Cook, George Pelecanos are all successful by most standards, but they deserve so much more. I used to feel that way about Alan Furst and Elmore Leonard but, after they labored over superlative prose for more than 20 years, they suddenly became overnight successes, so maybe someday that will happen to my other literary heroes as well.

Now I’m faced with a difficult situation.There are friends and professional publishing people whose opinions I respect. When you spend as much time reading and talking about mystery fiction as I do, you get to know the reading tastes of a lot of people and admire and respect some more than others.Perhaps it will not be a surprise that I most respect and admire those whose taste is pretty close to my own.

So when several of the smartest and most sophisticated people I know tell me I absolutely have to read the new book by Jim Nisbet,”Dark Companion” (Dennis McMillan, 144 pages, $30), I resolved to do it.

This is the third of his books that I’ve read, including last year’s “The Syracuse Codex,” which was universally praised but which I couldn’t finish. Reluctantly, I took the new one home with me, figuring what the hell, at least it’s short. Somewhere around page 40 I nodded off. Okay, it was late at night (my favorite reading time),so first thing the next morning, bright-eyed and with a large mug of coffee within easy reach, I went at it again. I stopped at page 100 when my eyes kept snapping shut. I finished it last night, feeling like I’d conquered Mount Everest.

The book publishing and selling world has a Bible, Publishers Weekly, which reviews all the major books weeks before they’re published so that booksellers and libraries know what to expect. The best of them, those rare gems that sparkle like the Cartier window, get a star.”Dark Companion” got a star. It is, PW stated, a “noir gem.” Please understand: The folks who write these reviews are smart professionals, not given to hyperbolic effusions without reason.That’s what baffles me.

It is the story of Banerjhee Rolf, an Indian-American scientist who loses his job at the chemical company he helped found.Then his 401K and pension disappear because of corporate hanky-panky. He’s disappointed but not particularly angry, seeming to enjoy his quiet forced retirement, gardening and being the domestic house-husband.

While his wife is away he becomes involved with his neighbors, a jackass who uses and deals drugs, and his hot girlfriend, both of whom are naked a lot. In the climactic scene (which I can’t reveal for fear of spoiling the big surprise), there is what is supposed to be a shocking revelation — which is so ludicrously far-fetched that I can only believe it is meant to be a parody of something or other.

The nerdy protagonist then goes on to make every bad decision it is possible for any human being to make. The only excuse for such loopy behavior that comes to mind is that Mr. Nisbet decided to go after that vast readership of existentialist fiction, which still mourns the passing of Camus and Sartre.

There are so many irritating moments in “Dark Companion” that I hate to single out any as more worthy than the others, but I still have a little space so I will. Early in his adventures, Banerjhee is coerced into buying two lottery tickets from his neighbor.When he pays for them, he forks over “a pair of singles, wryly noting that the gesture orphaned a twenty.” A little later, searching for a job, he is told that his impressive resume will be kept in a special place.”Again with the round file, Banerjhee reflected wryly.” For a character who is otherwise the quintessence of white bread, it’s just too much wry for my palate.

Drugs, porno movies, two TV sets on 24 hours a day in hopes of seeing a really violent moment, corporate heartlessness, disclosures of government experiments with chemical weapons — it’s all there in just 144 pages.

This alleged suspense novel (the only suspense for me was whether I could actually stay awake long enough to finish it so that I could then get on to some really thrilling reading, like “Remembrance of Things Past”) evidently brought in all these indictments to illustrate “the absurdities of present-day America” (according to Publishers Weekly) but they succeed only in showing the absurdities of the book.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use