Customer Reviews

Dark Companion

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A tragicomedy with a lot to say. Part farce, part indictment of our corporate culture, part parable on the fragility of human existence.

The book opens with a style and pace reminiscent of Thorne Smith and Damon Runyon and Peter De Vries--comic in the way of TOPPER, say, but updated to recent times. With just a few deft brush strokes, Nisbet paints a picture of a simple and reclusive man in a happy marriage, just trying to get along. But as Damon Runyon used to say, "all life is 6-5 against," and soon his life begins to unravel.

Jim Nisbet writes well and he interlaces his narratives with images and ideas, laughter and madness, and just as supernovas flare and die, a human destiny might follow its own falling-star-arc as if by deathwish. Here, we watch and admire the beauty of it.

And this is indeed a work of art, all the way around. Jim Nisbet's novels are instant collectors' items. The dustjacket of DARK COMPANION is especially gorgeous and symbolically relevant to the text. This is a quick read, even though I made myself slow down to relish it, with just 144 pages and set in an easy-to-read font.

A small gem, and easily one of the best novels I've read this year.

This short novel by progressive crime and noir author Nisbet is a strange mix of ideas that don't seem to cohere thoroughly, adding elements of science, science fiction and family drama and despite an interesting premise don't quite flow as well as they should. Main character B.J. Rolf is a chemical engineer, laid off by his mega-corporation after their latest round of Darwinian acquisition and downsizing. Left at home to brood, he compulsively does yard work and reads about astronomical phenomenon, especially neutron stars, while his faithful wife works and cooks, and his son attends university. When his wife leaves suddenly to scout out opportunities in Chicago, B.J. is pulled into the life of his neighbor, whom he previously considered a ne'er do well, but is forced to change his mind in a hurry as an incident of extraordinary violence upends his life completely and sends him on the run as a fugitive. Nisbet does show considerable imagination and sympathy with his characters, which are well drawn in the course of what is essentially three interlocked stories loosely held together by a few interlocking elements. But in the end, we are left with more questions than answers from this talented and enigmatic author.