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The men in this novel are 100% believable, which was infuriating. Good book, though, the themes of consent and power didn't stop it from being a fast and engrossing read.

Both infuriating and engaging, this was a tough book to pick up but I was immediately hooked.

I liked the premise of a skeptical disgraced scientist being drafted into metaphysical service by the forces of good, but this book really needed to shed about 150 pages. The whole backstory about Dr. Newton Barlowe's fall from grace could have been told through brief flashbacks or references. I stopped reading it several times, and almost didn't pick it back up again.

When the book does finally pick up speed, it's a decently fun time, with the main character's skeptical approach to arcane mysteries, and a few sequences that draw from Indiana Jones and even a James Bond film. It's never more than adequately written, but it's serviceable enough. It just took way too long to get there.

I think this would have been funnier to me if I read it 25 years ago, but it holds up okay. I enjoy David Sedaris most when he is observing the world around him; his self-depricating humor is okay, but I tend not to enjoy his essays that mine family stories for amusement.