Book Review (4 Stars) – The Introvert, by Michael Paul Michaud

Blurb:

A vacuum salesman by day, the introvert lives a quiet life alone with his dog until a work relationship and a dark secret from his past team up to create an uncomfortable imbalance in his otherwise ordered life, one that soon finds him squarely at the center of a murder investigation. With his thoughts continually urging him to make people “red and open” and to “achieve it” with his girlfriend Donna, what follows is a sometimes brutal, oftentimes hilarious, and absurdist account of the life of one very anti-social and unexpected anti-hero.

My Review:

I love how even before the story starts, it says “For the weirdos”, which made me think, this sounds promising.

The Introvert is a novella about a man who generally keeps to himself, but has issues when it comes to controlling his urges to harm certain people. Luckily, he’s reasonably selective, making him more of an anti-hero. This story is a mix of crime and dark comedy, which I thought worked well. The main character is certainly a bit quirky. Oh how I love getting into the minds of weirdos.

As a dog lover, there were certain aspects of this story I could relate to, although I’ve never gone to quite the lengths described in the novella.

I also found it somewhat entertaining that this story reminded me to look up vacuum cleaners. I saw an advert on TV a week or two ago claiming that 3 out of 4 people preferred the Shark pet vacuum to the Dyson Animal. I meant to investigate this online, as I’ve never heard of Shark vacuums before, but completely forgot about it until reading this. An example of fiction crossing over into real life.

Overall, an enjoyable read. I read it in two sittings. Probably took me about two and a half hours, and I’m not a particularly fast reader, so this is ideal if you fancy a quick read between full length novels.