KEY POINTS:
Critically acclaimed writer Rick Moody has penned three novellas that deal with the fear, confusion and paranoia of post 9/11 America. Each focuses on a single character struggling to make sense of his or her own small world. But it is not their small worlds that Moody is really commenting on - it is America: its dented self-image and the brave "new" world it must now inhabit.
In The Omega Force, we are joined by retired eccentric Dr Van Deusen. After reading a crime novel, our befuddled narrator wanders his island looking for the fictional characters the paperback portrays. He is convinced that America is under imminent threat, and that only he and his neighbours can save the day.
While we can clearly see that Van Deusen is mistaken and suffering from no more than dementia, the message Moody delivers is loud and (perhaps too) clear - that this sort of irrational paranoia is rampant. K&K takes us into the working life of insurance office manager Ellie Knight Cameron.
When Ellie discovers an odd message in the suggestion box asking her to fix a problem in the "real" world, she becomes alarmed - this is not her responsibility, surely. As the notes get more and more aggressive, Ellie tries to work out who the angry author is, so she (like America and its quest to snuff out terrorism) can put a stop to it once and for all - but as people keep leaving and the list of candidates shrinks, Ellie is left to face the disturbing truth.
The final offering, The Albertine Notes, is set in a post-apocalyptic New York. We follow freelance journalist Kevin Lee in the disaster zone as he tries to put together an article about a new designer drug, Albertine. This drug allows you to disappear into your past and relive memories.
In doing so, Moody is drawing attention to America's romance with nostalgia. Everything that happened in the past can be reconstituted as great and grand, no matter how bad it really was.
Interestingly, one of the side-effects of this drug is that it sometimes lets you recollect a memory that you haven't yet experienced.
Naturally, those in power are desperate to discover if this is possible - the future, it seems, lies in Lee's hands. Moody is interested in themes that question America.
Sadly, he has done little more than dress up three political arguments as metaphorical fiction.
The Omega Force
by Rick Moody (Faber & Faber $35)
* Steve Scott is an Auckland reviewer.
