Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103703 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 99 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Willis's charming tale of the paranormal, Rob, a professional skeptic, and Kildy, his too-good-to-be-true ex-actress sidekick, try to debunk a psychic channeler, who just might be hosting the spirit of legendary skeptic H.L. Mencken. Willis fans will find the funny, snappy narrative familiar, from the "how can you not know I'm in love with you" relationship to the quick-witted social commentary. Apt quotations from Mencken or Inherit the Wind, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's play inspired by the Scopes trial, which Mencken reported, head each chapter. While not as tightly woven as one of Willis's typical short stories nor as layered as her novels (Passage, etc.), this novella is still highly enjoyable, somewhat educational and will leave readers happy at the end.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Professional debunker Rob, proprietor of the Jaundiced Eye magazine, considers himself incredibly lucky to have Kildy as his sole employee. Smart, dedicated, gorgeous, and, thanks to her last movie before she hung up on Hollywood, rich, she's a pleasure to oblige when she says Rob has to witness this channeler Ariaura's act--on her, not the Eye's, nickel--despite channelers being so last year. It's quite a show, all right, for in the midst of Ariaura's particular ancient wise guy's basso spiel, a gravelly baritone interrupts (both voices emanate from the channeler's female mouth) to berate the audience as "yaps" and the act as "claptrap." Why is Ariaura undermining herself? Or is she? After all, she angrily accuses Rob and Kildy of scheming to destroy her. Could the baritone belong to a genuine channeled spirit? Willis, one of sf's most spirited writers, rounds on the New Age; pays tribute to a great, skeptical journalist; and affectionately parodies pulp fiction at its best (Fredric Brown, that would be) in this irresistible entertainment. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Mencken would simply adore this one.
I read this in tandem with Nicholas Sparks's TRUE BELIEVER, as both are about investigative reporters, professional debunkers, who encounter what seems to be the real thing at last. Those who have read and enjoyed Sparks's bestseller need to pick up this one for an alternate view.

Connie Willis has penned a spoof of mountebanks in her own style, a funny, endearing take on the men and women who pretend to reach out to the "other side," whose shams and talk show promotions and "reality TV segments" adorn our culture yet today. Her protagonist debunks fake after fake, but is taken aback but a psychic who actually seems to be channeling the legendary debunker H. L. Mencken himself, against her will.

This book is short, a special edition of her novella, but those who value Willis and those who value Mencken will all want to own it, and I predict that it will be one of the more highly sought after collectors items. FIRST EDITIONS MAGAZINE recently did a story on the values of Connie Willis's backlist, and if you have not yet seen it, you're missing something.

The dustjacket on INSIDE JOB is dropdead gorgeous. A splendid job all the way around, outside and inside.

Nothing Connie Willis hasn't already mined before
This actually merits closer to 3 1/2 stars in my opinion, not because it isn't good -- it is -- but because this is territory Connie Willis has already mined before and done better, and because the work is really too slight to merit its own volume.

As anyone who is familiar with Willis' work knows, Willis is a fan of movies (particularly screwball romantic comedies), literature, history and spiritualists, and she revisits all of that here to amusing effect. As usual, her writing is in the first person, with lots of witty and erudite diversions from the story as her narrator, a debunker of hack telepaths, faith healers and similar hucksters, tries to prove that a popular channeler of an ancient spirit from Atlantis is a fraud, while avoiding his feelings for his sidekick, a gorgeous actress turned fellow debunker, and still managing to find time to get in lots of clever literary references, particularly the work of H.L. Mencken. In the process, Willis manages to poke fun at pop culture and celebrity while at the same time delighting in them.

If you've never read Connie Willis before, this is an entertaining introduction, but she's done the literary reference/fake spiritualist/can't-quite-get-it-together romance thing better in "To Say Nothing of the Dog," and her previous short stories, particularly "Spice Pogrom," have been a better working of the screwball comedy angle. Her award winning novella "The Last Winnebago" shows how great and moving she can be when she is in form, and while I liked this one, I can't help feeling as though I'd read it before. But hey, second-rate Connie Willish is still better than just about anybody else, so I can't not recommend it, I just can't help wishing this was as good and original as her best work. If you're already a fan, you'll probably enjoy this quick and easy read. If not, start with her longer work or one of her collections, and wait until this is repackaged in a longer volume with other work.

Not up to snuff
Connie Willis is one of my all-time favorite authors. She writes in multi-levels of meaning on the human condition. Each of her books can be read many times to peel back the layers of the story. Her books are brilliant and pull you into her worlds so deeply that you are left wrung out and emotionally washed at the end of such books as Lincoln's Dreams, the Doomsday Book, filled with hope at the end of Passage, and just laughing out loud with her suble take on pop culture in Bellwether, while amazed at her command of whatever subjects she cares to conquer as part of her plots.

Unfortunately, "Inside Job" does not live up to expectations. It comes across as unpolished, unfinished, and an excuse to rant. While Willis usually "makes it look easy" as in Blued Moon, this novella just comes off as tired.

It starts off with a good idea, but mumbles and rambles its way through a thin plot, a lack of depth, and serious plot flaws. I'd give it 2 1/2 stars, but that's not an option.

Here's hoping Willis returns to her former polished brilliance. But don't waste your money on this one. Go back and re-read Passage or To Say Nothing of the Dog.