About once a quarter, I meet with publisher reps to order books for the upcoming season. I order fall books in the spring, and spring books in the dead of winter, and in just an hour or two, I might hear about hundreds of upcoming titles.
In this sea of books with far-flung release dates, The Verifiers somehow attracted my attention. Maybe it was the vivid orange cover. Maybe it was the clever premise. Maybe it was just an arbitrary selection, based on my constant desire for something new to read.
Whatever it was, I'm glad, because The Verifiers is a fresh, snappy, propulsive delight.
Like so many detective novels (and The Verifiers is absolutely, undeniably a detective novel, in the finest Dashiell Hammett tradition), the book opens with a mysterious stranger in a sleuth's office. Well, sort of. The sleuths are, in fact, the employees of Veracity, a secretive startup that investigates the claims of online dating profiles. Claudia Lin, the newest member of the Veracity team, thinks there's something odd about this latest client's requests - something she just can't let go. When her client disappears, she does what any amateur gumshoe would do: she hops on her bike, channels Inspector Yuan, her favorite fictional detective, and starts digging. And, of course, what she finds is a case way, way bigger than she could have imagined.
This is a fun book, and a funny one. But like all the best funny books, it probes serious questions: about consent, truth, and privacy in the digital age, and about the stories - true and less so - that we tell ourselves and those we love.
I found myself tearing through The Verifiers, an experience I had not had in some time. I wasn't ready for the book to end. When it did, I felt satisfied, but also sort of wistful. It took me a moment to realize where that feeling came from: I wanted a sequel, and I wanted one now.
I'm not alone, as it turns out. Emily St John Mandel, author of Station Eleven and the brand-new novel Sea of Tranquility, says "[The Verifiers] is exhilaratingly well written. I loved it so much I didn't want it to end."
Luckily, the book sets itself up perfectly for a second installment, and I have it on good authority (okay, look, I emailed the publisher) that there's one in the works.
Of course, books get canceled all the time, and I'm an anxious guy. That's why I need you to all to go out and read The Verifiers. Much as George Harrison signed on to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian because he wanted to watch it, if I have to personally sell enough copies to ensure Claudia Lin rides again, I'll do it. The book is that good.
Sam Kaas and Emma Nichols own and run the Norwich Bookstore.