THE DELIVERY - K. M. Halpern

Wilbur lives a quiet life with his wife in an unassuming home somewhere in the United States. Life is disrupted when a package is delivered for Wilbur.  It's a HUGE package - too big to have fit through the door or any windows. His wife only remembers that a delivery came.

It takes some time before Wilbur is willing to open it, but eventually does so - it was delivered to his house, after all. 

What's inside, however, is definitely not something for Wilbur, his wife, or anyone he knows. What is delivered to Wilbur, and what is waiting for him in his basement, is a weapon of mass destruction. Literally.

Calls to the military, politicians, and even the press seem to result in no result. No one is missing a bomb, but Wilbur is sure if one were to be discovered in his basement, it would bring nothing but trouble. But no one believes him, or cares. But the bomb in the basement is taking its toll on his marriage and he'd really like to go back to his unassuming contentment.

I really loved this book. It's not often you find good absurdist fiction in the vein of Franz Kafka or Nicolai Gogol or Eugene Ionesco but this delivers (pun intended).

One of the things that author K.M. Halpern does really well here is setting up the contrasts. Halpern gives us a very milquetoast central character and pits him against a major conflict (is the end of the world major enough?). The absurdity is then everywhere - a package too large to have been put in the basement being in the basement; no one is missing a giant bomb; no one listens to Wilbur calling for help; the idea that this will all be Wilbur's fault somehow.

I know this type of fiction is not everyone's cup of tea, but I really love going down an absurd rabbit hole and I was hooked right from page one. It's a brief book, but there were moments that I thought got a little long or repetitive. Overall, this is a huge thumbs up for me.

Looking for a good book? Shelve The Delivery, by K.M. Halpern, next to Gogol, Ionesco, and Kafka on your bookshelf after you've enjoyed the read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Delivery

author: K.M. Halpern

publisher: Epsilon Books

ISBN: 9781945671128

Kindle Edition, 165 pages
 

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