Book Review: Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire
An absolutely hilarious dimension-hopping detective romp from indie author, G.M. Nair.
Oh my gosh, why did I put off reading this for so long? I’ve had Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire sitting on the Kindle for ages, and I’d never gotten around to it until now. And it is hilarious. I haven’t read many comedies—only Hitchhiker’s Guide, some Discworld, and Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom For Sale. Sold! and that was quite a long time ago. So it was refreshing to read some more sci-fi comedy, and G.M. Nair’s novel was an absolute riot.
Blurb
Michael Duckett is fed up with his life. His job is a drag and his roommate and best friend of fifteen years, Stephanie Dyer, is only making him more anxious with her lazy irresponsibility. Things continue to escalate when they face the threat of imminent eviction from their palatial 5th floor walk-up and find that someone has been plastering ads all over the city for their Detective Agency.
The only problem is: He and Stephanie don’t have one of those.
Despite their baffling levels of incompetence, Stephanie eagerly pursues this crazy scheme and drags Michael, kicking and screaming, into the fray only to find that they are way out of their depth. They stumble upon a web of missing people that are curiously linked to a sexually audacious theoretical physicist and his experiments with the fabric of space-time. And unless Michael and Stephanie can put their personal issues aside and fix the multi-verse, the concept of existence itself may, ironically, no longer exist.
Review
I loved this book. Michael and Stephanie make a fantastic odd couple, with Michael as the more straight-laced of the pair, and Stephanie being the chaotic mess. They are genuinely very funny both together and alone, and are excellent characters that you really grow to love. And the introduction of secondary viewpoint character, Detective Calhoun, is done very well, bringing a bit more of a serious edge to the book. The comedy is well balanced with more earnest character moments that really flesh out their relationships and personalities.
The book has excellent pacing and great action. The dimension-hopping element brings with it a bit of time-looping too, but it never strays into totally mind-bending territory with it—even in the most absurdist moments (which I won’t spoil). And the ending neatly ties up all the loose threads in a very satisfying way.
The plot is absolute nonsense in the best possible way. It all stitches together believably, and draws on tropes which are sometimes played straight, and oftentimes subverted in unexpected ways. There are some great laugh-out-loud moments in this book; the comedy is a good mix of sometimes dumb, sometimes smart, and there’s a few well-placed pop-culture references too.
Everyone needs a good laugh now and then, and Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire is one I’d absolutely recommend in that regard. I’ve already got the second book in the series, so I’ll be launching into that sooner rather than later. I’m keen to see what crazy shenanigans Michael and Stephanie get up to next!
