San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Weird, wry thriller tweaks Silicon Valley mores
Contemporary fiction set in or around Silicon Valley doesn’t always reach far enough with its absurdity and speculation. Bestselling author Michelle Richmond’s eighth work of fiction, “The Wonder Test,” hits the right notes. It is a madcap suspense novel with a clever premise.
After the deaths of her husband and her father, FBI profiler Lina Connerly returns to her father’s hometown with her teenage son, Rory. Greenfield is a fictional Northern California suburb north of Burlingame, intended to satirize wealthy towns like Palo Alto or Cupertino, with high property values and extremely ambitious parents. At Rory’s high school, the day is divided into seminars that focus on succeeding at the Wonder Test, “the gold standard of standardized tests.” In a smart, conceptual fusion of the region’s emphasis on technology and New Age selfimprovement, it’s a test students can game because it’s graded by artificial intelligence.
As her son develops a romance with a French student, Lina struggles with the emotional toll of a fatal error she made at work for which she is taking a leave. But then a boy disappears and then turns up, gaunt and mute, on the beach at Half Moon Bay. He’s not the first.
Around a quarter of the way through, the plot unhinges, and its atmosphere turns pleasingly goofy before sinking deep into the disturbing. Set pieces in the most eccentric nooks and crannies of the region enliven the suspense. Lina’s investigation of what she describes as “a triple kidnapping case with a side of the seriously weird” leads her into a cafe staffed by headless ro
By Michelle Richmond (Grove; 448 pages; $22.99)
bots, San Francisco landmarks the Dolphin Club and Louis’ diner in the Outer Richmond, and locations such as Montara Beach, a netherworld of bikers and rundown cabins in La Honda, and drug dealers and a BDSM ring in Guerneville.
Witty test questions from the Wonder Test serve as epigraphs for each chapter. They double as wry social commentary on the ironies and contradictions of intense, workoriented life in the region. For instance: “Assuming the universe is always expanding, at what point does it become less likely that you will find your keys by continuing to look for them? Diagram and discuss.” And “When time travel is finally invented, who will be in the most danger? Provide a plausible timeline and supporting scientific data.” These humorous teasers nicely offset Lina’s thoughtful contemplation of spycraft and workplace camaraderie.
While it doesn’t mar the overall effect, the villain’s canned dialogue sometimes feels repurposed from a movie like 1994’s “Speed.” He speaks about Lina in the third person and deploys grandiose metaphors. For instance, late in the novel, he says, “Don’t rush me. You promised the third act would be the best. I hate to break it to you, honey, but I’m the one directing this production.”
Yet this is a highspirited, riveting novel. It combines the relentless, competitive pressure of growing up in affluent Silicon Valley suburbs with a future already coming round the bend. By blending the speculative and the familiar, Richmond makes us believe. Quoting his deceased father, Rory sums it up: “Everything is farfetched and impossible until the moment it happens. And then it’s just regular life.”
Anita Felicelli is the author of “Love Songs for a Lost Continent” and “Chimerica: A Novel.” She lives in the Bay Area with her family.