The Shallow End

Thad Poole has some problems... The Career Problem: Thad exaggerated his computer skills-well, he pretended he had some-to land his first job. Now, a few weeks into his tenure, he finds himself at the center of a high-profile project that he concocted based on his misunderstanding of a coworker's misreading of a computer magazine's joke. Despite Thad's attempts to quietly kill the project, it quickly metastasizes into a horror-movie blob of lies, ego, and corporate politics. The Family Problem: To put it bluntly, they're nuts. Thad's father, a chemist, used his three children as test subjects for homemade nootropic drugs and continues to meddle as much as possible. Thad's older brother Eugene, an ex-spy turned freelance operator, is on the payroll of one of the world's shadiest conglomerates. His sister May has recently run off to New York to pursue her modeling career and a dual major in philosophy and chemistry. And Thad's mother checked out of the Hotel Poole long ago, and now finds her fulfillment in red wine, ludicrous cults, and math tutoring. The Stalker Problem: A rogue DEA agent with an old axe to grind has taken an unhealthy interest in the Pooles. The Problem Problem: Mix all Thad's problems together and you get an explosive chemical reaction that culminates in two disastrous dénouements: (1) the annual company meeting, featuring unexpected hypnosis and history's most disastrous PowerPoint presentation; and (2) the Poole's traditional Christmas feast, featuring unexpected guests, mistaken identities, flex cuffs, a vintage kana, that wacky DEA agent, and a sibling bet gone terribly awry. Like the free-spirited love child of Don DeLillo's "Americana" and Kingsley Amis' "Lucky Jim," "The Shallow End" combines social satire, solipsism, and linguistic ardor. If it were a car, it would probably be the DeLorean from "Back to the Future." If it were a tree, it would bear some crazy-textured technicolor fruit. If it were a book...well, buy it and see.