Anton Strout, Dead to Me (Ace Books, 2008)
The premise of Anton Strout's debut novel Dead to Me was an intriguing one: Simon Canderous, reformed con-artist and pyschometrist -- able to divine the history of an object with a single touch -- is a new employee of New York's Department of Extraordinary Affairs. He and his mentor, Connor Christos, work for the Other Division and Simon has to balance dealing with his uncontrollable powers, learning about the intricacies of the paranormal world and the inevitable bureaucratic red-tape that comes with working for the government.
The novel started out a crisp pace with a disastrous date for Simon, an encounter with a feral ghost for both him and his mentor and a shocking encounter with another ghost back at the office. (This time an attractive woman who didn't realise she was dead -- nor did Simon.) This is the start of a -- mostly -- high-paced adventure that throws Simon into the deep end of being a DEA agent as he uncovers the links between the two ghosts and the Sectarian Defence League, who campaign for equal treatment for cultists.
The intersection of bureaucracy and the peculiar or paranormal is something I usually enjoy when I come across it in fiction, and all the better if there is humour too. I enjoy Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series and The Case of the Toxic Spelldump by Harry Turtledove is one of my favourite books. So I approached Dead to Me with high hopes. Unfortunately, the novel didn't quite live up to my expectations. Strout is clearly a good writer and there were many appealing elements to the story. The concept of a hero bound by the rules of bureaucracy is appealing, his world-building shows promise and elements of the plot were effectively disturbing. The primary problem is the blend of fantasy and humour is rather heavy-handed and the two elements don't mesh seamlessly enough for my comfort as a reader. It veered from Urban Fantasy, with a touch of humour, to slapstick. At times I felt as if I was reading a French Farce or a not altogether fond parody of the genre. His characters were similarly drawn with a rather heavy hand and lacked subtlety in their personalities. Simon Canderous in particular irritated me. He was self-righteous and judgmental and I saw nothing in him to justify his love-interest's overnight decision to abandon the dental plan of Evil for the side of good.
A perfect example of Strout's heavy-handedness with characterisation was his treatment of Wesker, the Head of Greater and Lesser Arcana. For reasons that escaped me, Simon seemed to view Wesker as evil incarnate. I could have accepted that as Simon's biased opinion, but then it was supported by other characters. So apparently we were meant to accept it as fact, although I wasn't sure why.
Strout is a good writer and when he forgot to try so hard to be funny the narrative bumped along merrily, showing flashes of unforced, wry humour. Dead to Me is a light read and I would give Strout the benefit of the doubt regarding future novels. This is his debut novel, after all, and I was measuring it against The Case of the Toxic Spelldump. Other readers might find also find the character of Simon Canderous more palatable.
