PARADIME – A NOVEL

Fiction

Double trouble

PARADIME – A NOVEL
By Alan Glynn
255 pp. Picador

Reviewed by Dennis C. Rizzo

What would you do if you discovered someone was your double? Not just “kind-a looks like you”, but a real double. The laws of probability say it’s fairly possible. Some of us have had the experience, or know those who have. In Paradime, Alan Glynn explores what might be, and what might result.

Danny Lynch, a two-tour veteran of Iraq and sometime sous chef, now slipping in and out of work in Manhattan, stumbles onto what he thinks is an opportunity to make some cash.

I then stand there, staring through the window, and it takes me a while to see it, for it to click – my own reflection in the glass is superimposed on Trager. He’s facing in my direction but is busy with his phone and doesn’t appear to see me. For my part, I switch focus from one image to the other, from mine to his, and back again, until I get confused...Trager scruffy and unshaven one second, me groomed and in a suit the next.

Paradime refers to a company that comes into play about a third of the way through the story. It’s also an obvious play on words. Since Danny returned from a civilian stint in Afghanistan, he’s been carrying a secret that tosses his sense of duty into a tailspin. Self-recrimination begins to work on his already delicate mental state and his fear of retaliation from his civilian contractor employer feeds his paranoia. Then he stumbles on a life-changing plan.

Leaving the apartment is hard. I feel incredibly self-conscious, like a kid dressed up for his grandmother’s funeral, so the last thing I want is for someone to see me and start a conversation – anyone, the guy down the hall, the mailman, the lady from the nail salon next door who spends half her life taking cigarette breaks. .... After a few minutes I relax and start to enjoy it. There’s an unidentifiable thrill in involved in this, an adrenaline kick from pretending to be someone else. ...I catch my reflection in a store window and can imagine being that guy – a venture capitalist, a fund manager, a Teddy Trager.

The writing is persuasive. It’s an easy read. Glynn has done his homework. The material presented, the circumstances, corporate language, financial lingo – all on target. As Teddy Trager, the investor says...

“So lately I’m doing some work with this company called Prometheus Technologies, right? PromTech. And it’s incredibly exciting, the ideas that are spinning around that place, you’d love it. It’s like DARPA on steroids, or CERN, big data, adaptive systems, the singularity, AI, longevity, biometrics, remote DNA tracking – that’s a revolution right there – but you know, take your pick, it’s all long-view stuff.”

Danny is in control, he thinks. He anticipates the life of a rich investor, but there are puppet masters working behind the scenes. The twists and turns are a bit confusing, but Glynn is able to bring us back to the centerline. What at first seems a neat solution to Danny’s lack of work and his girlfriend’s lapsing interest turns into a very real nightmare, as rudely awakening as Jekyll-Hyde. It is also a poignant commentary on the unrelenting, clandestine machinations of our “democratic” government.

Paradime is the latest of Glynn’s efforts. It’s a well-crafted piece of fiction. Although a relatively simple tale, Glynn’s dialogue and pinpoint research turn it into a worthwhile read - something for the next plane trip or cruise.