NO ONE HAS TIME FOR THAT

An ordinary man becomes entangled in extraordinary circumstances in von Lindenberg’s debut novella and series launch.

Grady Sachs lives alone in a modest apartment in the small town of West Elm. His looks and demeanor are nondescript; he’s “everyone, but also no one in particular.” While working at a low-rent law firm, Grady uncovers a large corporation’s embezzlement. The ensuing legal battle is too much for his meager firm to handle, so a bigger law firm takes it over and Grady winds up unemployed. But it’s his work on that case that soon lands Grady a new job (after calling a number on an otherwise blank business card given to him by a mysterious stranger) as a “Business Investigator” for a shadowy organization whose name he apparently doesn’t catch. He’s to work his magic looking into Inventaratus Technologies, a research and engineering corporation. Grady infiltrates Inventaratus by taking a “cover job” as a mail clerk, and his investigation points him toward company owner and CEO Waylan Scott. This leads to a startling turn that Grady doesn’t anticipate and that will change his life in profound ways. Von Lindenberg injects a good deal of humor into this short, tightly written tale, especially its first half (Grady, at his first job, can’t distinguish his three-named bosses from one another). Grady is an affable protagonist who prefers his routine (starting every morning with a bowl of corn flakes), which makes the shift to a noticeably darker tone in the latter half of the narrative all the more jarring. While a blanket of mystery covers Inventaratus and its CEO, Grady is a bit of an enigma as well. The ending provides a touch of enlightenment, though its main purpose seems to be setting up the series that is to follow.

An intriguing if sometimes-baffling introduction to an elusive character.