McNally (The Book of Ralph
) takes a satiric, paranoid look at the dastardly machinations behind standardized testing. Charlie Wolf, 23, opts to stay in Iowa City after finishing graduate film school and secures for himself and his girlfriend, Petra Petrovich, what he presumes will be a cake job for the summer before the 2004 election: scoring standardized tests. While grading, he comes across an essay written by Jainey O'Sullivan, a 17-year-old suburban Chicago girl whose alarming assertions about the death of her art teacher—the Feds took her out for her anti-Bush rhetoric—touch him. (That Petra leaves him for a man living in Chicago also compels him to act.) It soon occurs to Charlie that the tests are designed to analyze the person taking the test, and when Charlie is transferred to the testing company's Chicago office, he discovers his suspicions are correct. Jainey, meanwhile, is obsessed with conspiracy theories and has a father in jail and a sociopath older brother (who is prone to hallucinations) living in the attic of the family house. The bizarre plot and colorful characters make for an engrossing read, though some readers may find the politicking too heavy-handed. (July)
