The List of Dead Smiths

Williams’s bizarre novel, set in a near future in which President Hillary Clinton’s vice president is Judge Judy, opens with a chapter in which Sheldon “Shelly” Smith, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, is crushed to death by two obese prostitutes in a sordid hotel room outside Mexico City. Shelly maintains a bemused, detached tone throughout his ordeal. (“Had he foreseen this outcome—his naked body trapped beneath seven hundred pounds of beautiful, naked Asian hooker—he might not have taken the all-expense paid trip which mysteriously arrived at his door.”) Shelly proves to be but one member of his family to die under odd circumstances. Capt. America Oceanus Smith detonates a nuclear bomb he installed on his yacht “for emergencies,” and Lura Lee Smith is carried off to be eaten either by a Himalayan golden eagle or a pterodactyl. Lura Lee’s cousin, Sydney, hires PI Tate Pendergast to investigate. Readers uncomfortable with explicit sex—or toilet scenes—should steer clear. [em](BookLife) [/em]