Ephemera-Jeffery M. Anderson

Ephemera
Jeffery M. Anderson
CreateSpace, May 4 2011, $15.99
ISBN: 9781453870815

As the Memorial Weekend beckons, the employees at The Reviewers Review magazine scramble to leave. Thirty-eight years old writer Nester Cab is chosen as the designated lock up for the holiday driver. Nester feels like he belongs in a different as his life is filled with ennui at home and at work. He hides behind cynical facades as only those disenchanted with the sham of the American nightmare can; even his cuckoo clock does not chant. His boss Aida knows him as the city’s biggest recluse while his excuse for not getting a drink outside the office with her is his review of Amblin’s review.

Cab finds a note left behind by an intruder addressed to him including his serial number to locate AWOL Corporal Forsythe who “knows where they are.” Although everyone except Aida and him are gone from the office, he assumes this is an inane prank. However, with nothing better to do after a few drinks, he begins a search for the missing soldier. His inquiry leads him to the violent Neo-Luddite Army whose leader Stillman holds Cab prisoner for indoctrination into the government-corporate conspiracies led by the real power in DC the Secretary of Commerce.

This extremely dark thriller is character driven by Cab’s disillusionment. Ironically it is easier to understand Stillman in spite of his irrational moments than it is the numbed indifferent Cab. Though not fast-paced, Ephemera is a thought provoking tale as readers will see the outcome of the Reagan legacy is the Eisenhower warning to beware of the government industrial military complex. To conceal reality, politicians use the mantra of Ephemera to assume the brain numbed public will quickly forget the hypocrisy and lies.