Whom God Would Destroy by Commander Pants: Oliver is an outreach counselor for the mentally ill, which mainly involves making sure they get to their doctor appointments. His clients include Abbey, who may or may not have multiple personalities; Greg, who may or may not be turning into his therapist; and Doc, who may or may not be communicating with aliens who demand Big Macs. Meanwhile, the ultra-charismatic Jeremy, who may or may not be Jesus, has opened a new age shop and started a television show on public access to spread his message of selfishness. Confused? Believe it or not, the story wasn’t so difficult to follow as long as you just went with it, accepting whatever bizarre new twist was thrown at you. (I’ve found a similar approach is helpful when reading Douglas Adams novels.) This is a bizarre tale of religion, drugs, sex, extraterrestrials, mental illness, and fast food, full of cynical humor and truly strange characters. I would suggest that anyone who is very sensitive about any of these issues (most especially religion) give this one a miss, but if you’re more cynical and/or apathetic, you might find the insanity rather enjoyable. I’ll be curious to see if Commander Pants writes anything else, or if he chooses a different pen name for each novel.

Also posted on BookCrossing.