The War Against the Assholes

Munson's second novel (after The November Criminals) is an underwhelming mess, with a well-worn plot served poorly by its muddled narrative voice. Adolescent Michael Wood is a loner, fighting whenever he needs to defend himself and otherwise living an unengaged life at his Catholic school in Manhattan. After Michael finishes beating up a student who made fun of his name, a quiet fellow named Hob gives him a mysterious book called The Calendar of Sleights. It's ostensibly a book of tricks, but Michael finds that the opaque prose offers him strange powers and access to a secret society. There's little that's new in the concept, and little that's compelling about the characters and writing. Michael's narrative voice consists of short sentences and fragments ("The air smelling of oranges. Some herb. Bookshelves lined the walls. English titles, German titles, French. Other tongues.") that lack the necessary wit, and the complex and muddling secret war plot simply never excites. (June)