Happy Policeman

Rating:
Summary: Once again, the science fiction is a minor aspect
Review: As in her latest work, "God's Fires" (a highly-recommended book about the Inquisition and aliens), the science fiction aspects recede into the background. Patricia Anthony's focus has always been with relationships and the human experience - some might say dilemma. She highlights these two elements by using aliens as background noise...they are not so different from us after all OR they are so different we can only relate to one another.

Post-nuclear Texas, a small town has been cut off from the rest of the world by an invisible shield erected by aliens who live among them. The incongruous element was that life went on as normal without a lot of consternation. It is a typical town with an evangelistic preacher, love affairs, law breakers and a tired, guilty Chief of Police. A murder has occurred at the start of the book and the search for the killer forms the germ of the plot.

Yet...and this is the reason for the four stars, when all is said and done, there is more said than done. (WARNING -SPOILER) One could almost sense that the entire six years of the barrier was surreal. What is even more perplexing is that everything that occurred in the town actually happened only in another setting. Instead of hanging a condemned man, we discover he has hung himself in his prison cell in the "real world". No one understands, least of all the people involved, and when they emerge they discover that the world has carried on as before.

So, is it a commentary over taking life for granted, over what is possible in the universe of reality, on the meaning of reality itself. Your guess is as good as mine. But read the story for the richness of the characters (the moment when he finds out about his wife and deputy is a classic) and the effectiveness of the dialogue.

Rating:
Summary: Happy That I Found Happy Policeman
Review: I just discovered Patricia Anthony and boy am I glad! Great characterization and dialogue. Great style that keeps you turning the pages. I hated time away from this book! Then hated that I finished it. The alien Torkus are so deliciously creepy and philosphical. I am so glad I found Happy Policeman. I looked foward to reading Brother Termite and Cold Allies.

Rating:
Summary: UPS Aliens
Review: It's a locked-room mystery, folks, with all the action taking place inside "the line." Who killed the pink lady? Pastor Jimmy? Foster, the dope-smoking banker? Billy, Loretta's estranged husband? Or maybe she was murdered by the aliens in the UPS truck. The Happy Policeman is the story of police chief DeWitt Dawson's struggle with duty and rebellion, responsibility and truth. Oh yeah . . . and adultry.

One of Anthony's best.

Rating:
Summary: her most underrated book
Review: Patricia Anthony is underrated in general, but this is her most overlooked book. Too bad, because it's THAT GOOD. Although the premise is a simple twist on an old ghost town of sorts, it is sci-fi/specu-fic at its best.

Rating:
Summary: More appropriately, Mr. Happy Policeman
Review: The cover makes you think it's a good book.
I could have sworn a man wrote this phallically oriented dreck. The thing I remember the most about this story is the Doctor Who reference and that embarassingly bad section about the "greptusian(whatever the heck those aliens were called) handshake," a term the author invented to describe oral intercourse. Ick.

Rating:
Summary: Who's really the law in the last town in America?
Review: Things haven't been going well for Earth lately; in fact, it may no longer exist. The Bomb fell, the aliens came, the Line went up, the town went into six years of complete isolation -- too bad things are starting to deteriorate. The Policeman is losing his grip on the townspeople at the same rate he's losing his grip on sanity, and this time he can't depend on the Aliens for help. The town's brittle peace is crumbling and folks are turning up dead. A seemingly simple murder case ignites the citizens and sets a chain-of-events in motion that threatens to destroy what may be the only human settlement left on the planet. They been told that the Line keeps danger out, but no one is sure of that explanation anymore. Rage and distrust turn against the Aliens as the situation reaches a fevre point. If they appear to threaten the enigmatic creatures, action will be swift, dispassionate, and deadly. Can the Policeman find a solution and the happiness the alien leader promises, before the final confrontation? Exquisite tension and unique characters drive this novel at a deceptively sedate speed that sneaks up on the reader with devastating impact. The hero is all too human; a man trapped in the most thankless law enforcement job since Clarke County, Space. A riveting study of emotions in a pressure-cooker existence

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and intelligent read
Review: This is a good book to read in bed for entertainment on the surface, but it's also an excellent commentary on human xenophobic nature. It's been a while since I read it, so I really can't offer more, but it is a quite multi-layered book that I recommend to both the casual and deep reader.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and intelligent read
Review: This is a good book to read in bed for entertainment on the surface, but it's also an excellent commentary on human xenophobic nature. It's been a while since I read it, so I really can't offer more, but it is a quite multi-layered book that I recommend to both the casual and deep reader.

Rating:
Summary: This book was short-listed for England's Clarke Award
Review: Visit my website to . . . (1) read reviews about this and my other books (2) read a selection from my new novel (3) see Writing Tips Your Mama and Writing Instructor Never Told You (I have been a teacher of creative writing for years, and currently hold a post at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas) (4) take the Face the Inquisition Pop Quiz (first 10 people to score 100% will win an autographed copy of GOD'S FIRES)