The Devines are a typical New Jersey suburban family. Connie and Maggie’s marriage is stale; daughter Mike is a certified genius suffocating in typical sixth-grade drama; and son Danny is sleeping too much, obsessing over girls, and playing rock music surprisingly proficiently. But all of that changes when a mysterious silver box lands in their basement—and doesn’t remain inert for long.
Sparkling and frenetic, Rich Leder’s EXTRATERRESTRIAL NOIR goes miles on the absurdity of its setup: an alien takes the shapes of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (noir celebrities of yesteryear) to help the Devine family solve their problems. However, it’s the prose style that carries the day. The text derives real, consistent humor from sharp observations of conspicuous consumption, often enumerated in obscene lists: one neighbor stands at “his $30,000, sixty-six-inch San Marzano Red Viking Tuscany Series gas range scrambling egg whites with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and potatoes in a Ruffoni copper frying pan that cost a cool $750.” Suburban wifely duties include “playing tennis in the Pagliuccis’ magazine-featured, award-winning designer backyard, showcasing a knockout acrylic court (a professional-quality playing surface composed of a sky-blue acrylic top layer over a high-end asphalt foundation); lavish flagstone hardscaping; custom redwood fencing; high-end stadium lighting; commercial-quality, stainless-steel outdoor kitchen; massive tight knot cedar pergola; modern acacia wood-framed furniture with hand-crafted cushions; and state-of-the-art audiovisual and security installations.” In these moments, the comically long sentences and exhaustive specificity recall the humor of writers like David Foster Wallace.
EXTRATERRESTRIAL NOIR also loves, well, noir—as well as its snappy dialogue. The Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake alien mouths off like a PI or a femme fatale, but the rest of the gang gets in on the action, too. The dialogue between Connie and his neighbor, who’s come to collect the $250,000 he loaned, is an early, easy example: “Do I need a lawyer?” “You can’t afford a lawyer.” “Can you lend me the money for one?” The characters are clearly types, skating along the plot in these light, witty exchanges, but it works for noir. The plot itself unfolds in the same vein. Everyone has a secret, and every secret is more explosive than the last; literal explosions aren’t long to follow. But it’s still the snappy, silly prose that holds it all together. Some readers may not quite be interested in riding that train all the way—the review copy clocks in at 542 pages—but for fans of the genre, or those who want a light thriller that will keep them laughing, EXTRATERRESTRIAL NOIR absolutely delivers.
Rich Leder’s EXTRATERRESTRIAL NOIR is a slap-bang absurdist thriller that bounces from page to page and clearly loves every minute of it.
–Dan Accardi for IndieReader