Customer Reviews

Meeting Evil: A Novel

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Meeting Evil is a great book. In it (like in Neighbors and The Houseguest) Berger explores the themes of the limits of hospitality and the shield of insulation that we as members of society build around ourselves. However, in this novel, Berger uses the character of Ritchie to explore the nature of Evil more than he does with any other character. Ritchie's motivations are random and surreal and chaotic in contrast to the overly orderly and logical John Felton. It is as if Berger purposely makes Ritchie as illogical as possible while simultaneously showing John (and the reader)to be completely unprepared to deal with or understand him. Preparation requires logic, and logic is useless in dealing with chaos. Ritchie does not seem as sinister as he does chaotic.

Thomas Berger is a master of turning the mundane into nightmare, as he proves once again in Meeting Evil. When John Felton, a real estate salesman, regular guy next door, answers his doorbell early one morning and a stranger with car trouble asks for assistance, he willingly obliges. This is Felton's first mistake.

As the situation escalates into chaos, it is clear that something is very wrong. Ritchie, the stranger, is both obnoxious and obsequious, given to sudden flares of temper. John's go-along personality has gotten him into an untenable situation, one that seems to offer no immediate avenue of escape and Felton is confused about why he is with the volatile Ritchie. John's habitual tentativeness is a great disadvantage, leaving him as vulnerable as the proverbial lamb waiting for slaughter. "He was conscious of a lifetime of urge to do right."

What happens when a rational man finds himself in an ever more dangerous situation, where he is helplessly mired in moral perplexities? As more innocent bystanders are drawn into Ritchie's vortex, it is John's conscience that struggles with escape, at the mercy of a sociopath. Ritchie's escalating violence is intolerable and John Felton's life is seriously out of control.

John must decide if he can maintain his integrity and still remain a passive bystander, caught between adapting to Ritchie's unpredictable impulses and escaping without harm. All Felton's struggles are as yet internal; he is unable to take action for fear of the consequences. "To be no hero is shameful, but taking satisfaction in that state of affairs would be."

This is the story of a family man, a suburban Everyman, spending his days in comfortable rapprochement with his environment, never questioning his ethics in the world at large. John is complacent, his manhood unchallenged, in one sense a moral NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard). When evil threatens, John is immediately paralyzed, equivocating. But what works in every day situations may not provide the appropriate answer in extreme circumstances. Meeting Evil poses the philosophical dilemma of life in a civilized society pitted against aberrant behavior with no room for error. Luan Gaines/2003.

Berger is one of our great writers who has never quite received the recognition he deserves. Perhaps that's for the best because he has consistently turned out perceptive, hilarious examinations of modern life while maintaining his integrity. "Meeting Evil" is about a good man's encounter with a serial killer. What transpires is an extraordinary black comedy about middle class complacency and how human beings only come to understand the value of what they have when it is placed under threat.

Thomas Berger is an underappreciated master of the 20th century American novel. All of his books (save a handful) are worth your time--and while this is one of his faster and looser books, you won't put it down. If you liked After Hours or North by Northwest, read this.

Of all the major writers in American today, Thomas Berger is the only one who has his feet solidly on the ground. His books - from Little Big Man to Changing the Past - are not only funny, engrossing, intelligent and wise, they are also full of common sense, which is, of course, not common at all, but the rarest of commodities. He also takes his tales, however, and delves deeper into themes which others never consider.

Meeting Evil is the story of John Felton, a rather average guy who gets sucked into a crime spree by a stranger named Richie. John always has good, civilized reasons for letting evil occur and only towards the end does Felton pull himself decisively away from Richie. On one level, this is the novelization of Edmund Burke's warning about good men doing nothing. But as you think through the book, the reader notices something eerie. People keep mistaking John for Richie. Some witnesses see only John. Others think they look alike.

Evil is inside of each of us, Berger is saying, and we are all responsible for removing it from ourselves. How he can turn that message into hilarious, polished prose is what makes Berger unique in American letters and very very special.