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It's a good story with an interesting premise; the characters believable and likable. That I read the main character's dialogue in Sterling Archer's voice throughout is my fault, not the author's.

Of all things, what struck me as outstanding about the book was its pacing. The story arcs from here to there with very few tangents, and little misdirection or extemporanea; nothing drags or is rushed through; exposition is never brought outside the narrative in that distracting way nobody likes. Very well done, and very easy to get absorbed in.

It takes place in what I suppose is an alternate world where for the last 30-some years, a small percentage of the population has been born with drastically heightened mental abilities. 30 years later, "normal" people are worried about becoming obsolete, the government is trying to control the "brilliants" (a/k/a "abnorms") from childhood by indoctrinating them in "academies," nobody plays poker anymore, and they had to shut down the NYSE when an abnorm made billions from it. It's an interesting embarkation point for a story, and we follow Nick Cooper, an abnorm who, counterintuitively, works for the feds, hunting and neutralizing fellow brilliants who pose some terrorist threat or other. If you'r reasonably well informed about the real world, you can guess how airtight the definition of "terrorist" is, and thus begins Cooper's conflict, and his impetus for change.

Any synopsis you read, including that one, is going to make it sound like the X-Men. It really isn't. Nobody shoots beams out of their eyes or walks through walls, they just perceive, gather information and act on it exponentially (in some cases) better than "norms" do. Don't pick it up when you're in the mood for sci-fi or alt history or you might disappoint yourself, but if you enjoy those genres or crime thrillers, I think you'd enjoy it.

I really dug this book, late as I was getting to read it. It’s not The Secret History, don’t listen to anybody who says it is. I loved The Secret History, but that was denser, more baroque and creepier than The Basic Eight. Plus, I read Secret History when I was younger (as did you, probably) and more impressionable. If The Secret History is the Dead Poets Society of high school murder novels, all elevating, meaningful, emotional and shit, The Basic Eight is, I don’t know, Brick, with more energy and less noir.

The novel is ostensibly a self-edited version of a daily(ish) journal of Flannery Culp’s senior year of high school, during which Flannery killed a classmate. She is remarkably insouciant about the whole deal, and my theory about that is that if you have as cool a name as “Flannery Culp,” Insouciance is probably your middle name. The novel is Flannery telling the story of that killing.

What’s groovy about the book: There’s a lot. The writing is terrific. I mean things like pace, dialogue, what’s said and not said, but mostly I mean there are some turns of phrase throughout that are real gems. And they’re not flicked into the narrative as one-liners or comedy relief; the story is told in a very engaging and impressive way. There’s,

You’d think that sweet would be a land far, far away from irritating, but as it turns out they’re right next door, and always having border disputes.

And then also,

I felt like the Egyptians must have when the rivers had already turned to blood and the cattle had all died: Ho hum, locusts. Guess Ahmed wins the plague pool.

I mentioned “what’s said and not said.” You learn as much about Flannery and her friends (high school clique; exclusive “club,” weird and variable intrapersonal relationships within; yeah, that’s where the Secret History idea comes from) from how Flannery says certain things and by what she isn’t saying as you do from the narrative taken at face value. It’s a technique that’s hard to pull off successfully, often it ends up seeming like the author is playing hide the ball so he can spring an artificial gotcha on you. That’s not the case here.

And as far as the story? We know from page one that Flannery killed her friend Adam State, so this isn’t a whodunit. We don’t have much of a problem imagining why she did it, in general, as the story proceeds. We know the consequences, because Flannery is “editing” her senior year journal from confinement. And yet, withholding any spoilers, just let me say that if you stick with the story through to the end, you’ll be rewarded.