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Security Through Absurdity #1
Little Yellow Stickies
"Jocelyn McLaren is a beautiful, hard working, yet naive visual artist who, through a twist of fate, ends up working for a major US defense contractor during the lead up to the Iraq war. She unknowingly witnesses and unwittingly participates in crimes that haunt her and are ultimately interlinked with the most nefarious psychopaths on the planet.
Divided into three books, SECURITY THROUGH ABSURDITY is the story of corporate shenanigans, an unstable home life, and a quixotic presidential campaign. These situations propel Jocelyn through a believably bizarre journey and into dangerous psychological territory. In a matrix of life threatening situations, she is forced to question the very fabric of her GenX American upbringing.
BOOK Little Yellow Stickies
is the first of the SECURITY THROUGH ABSURDITY series which follows the misadventures and development of the main character, Jocelyn McLaren."
Divided into three books, SECURITY THROUGH ABSURDITY is the story of corporate shenanigans, an unstable home life, and a quixotic presidential campaign. These situations propel Jocelyn through a believably bizarre journey and into dangerous psychological territory. In a matrix of life threatening situations, she is forced to question the very fabric of her GenX American upbringing.
BOOK Little Yellow Stickies
is the first of the SECURITY THROUGH ABSURDITY series which follows the misadventures and development of the main character, Jocelyn McLaren."
- GenresFiction
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2014
11 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 2, 2014
Reading this book, I felt pretty much as Jocelyn must have felt when she first started working for her boss Adam - out of my depth. The environment is a corporate defense contractor and the people who work there have to lay aside any principles they may have had about war, and most of their ethics because they will be asked to lie, manipulate, commit fraud and any other essential actions to get the job done and enhance corporate stock levels.
I really like the subtitle of security through absurdity because it sums up the work defense contractor perfectly. There is so much absurdity in what Jocelyn is asked to do, it made my head reel. I have no experience of corporate government defense contractors in America, and, after reading this book, I'm happy to stay out of it!
Jocelyn is a very endearing and engaging character. She starts the book married to the disastrous Bobby, but doesn't stay that way for long. She spends the next six years surviving her job, but doing it so well she gets noticed and promoted. She's involved in all sorts of dubious events, the stress and nature of which eventually start to get to her.
Other entertaining characters are Stan the congressman, Vince the maintenance man, Nancy the tragic log-book keeper, Mimi the font of all workplace knowledge, to name but four.
In the next book, will we find out what really happened to Nancy, will we discover if the little floppy 'insurance' disk comes into its own, and will we find out the source of the mysterious gold coins, poetry email spam, and disappearing dude who stole back his own gift? Plus, who exactly was the mysterious temp who just disappeared following a tragedy?
I'm giving this book four stars instead of five because I felt there were a number of cultural references which sailed way over my head, and I didn't feel as involved as I might have done had I had some insider knowledge. That said, this is a fascinating book, and is told with such credibility and panache you are left suspecting that much is based on reality. Rachael has a way with words that is both witty and succinct, and her hotel bedroom scene is squirmingly hilarious. There are some great observations on human behaviour, especially in the work environment.
I'm looking forward to book two.
I really like the subtitle of security through absurdity because it sums up the work defense contractor perfectly. There is so much absurdity in what Jocelyn is asked to do, it made my head reel. I have no experience of corporate government defense contractors in America, and, after reading this book, I'm happy to stay out of it!
Jocelyn is a very endearing and engaging character. She starts the book married to the disastrous Bobby, but doesn't stay that way for long. She spends the next six years surviving her job, but doing it so well she gets noticed and promoted. She's involved in all sorts of dubious events, the stress and nature of which eventually start to get to her.
Other entertaining characters are Stan the congressman, Vince the maintenance man, Nancy the tragic log-book keeper, Mimi the font of all workplace knowledge, to name but four.
In the next book, will we find out what really happened to Nancy, will we discover if the little floppy 'insurance' disk comes into its own, and will we find out the source of the mysterious gold coins, poetry email spam, and disappearing dude who stole back his own gift? Plus, who exactly was the mysterious temp who just disappeared following a tragedy?
I'm giving this book four stars instead of five because I felt there were a number of cultural references which sailed way over my head, and I didn't feel as involved as I might have done had I had some insider knowledge. That said, this is a fascinating book, and is told with such credibility and panache you are left suspecting that much is based on reality. Rachael has a way with words that is both witty and succinct, and her hotel bedroom scene is squirmingly hilarious. There are some great observations on human behaviour, especially in the work environment.
I'm looking forward to book two.
August 11, 2014
Little Yellow Stickies offers fantastic insight into politics, money and war from the inside of a military contractor. We begin to learn the truly absurd machinstions of keeping the nation safe.
Ms. McIntosh weaves our imagination through a bleak employment reality with relatable, colorful characters and dubious business situations that are seemingly normal in the Military Industrial Complex.
As we near the end of book one, the stage is set for more intregue that leaves one with a hunger for book two. I cannot wait for it's release!
Ms. McIntosh weaves our imagination through a bleak employment reality with relatable, colorful characters and dubious business situations that are seemingly normal in the Military Industrial Complex.
As we near the end of book one, the stage is set for more intregue that leaves one with a hunger for book two. I cannot wait for it's release!
September 12, 2015
Jocelyn is a strong and an easy to relate to character who finds herself in a world of corruption where money, politics, and domestic policy meet up for a whirlwind of things that make you go hmmmmm....For anyone who has ever wondered what exactly our governments motives are and have been in the past this book will assure you that you are not alone.
Beyond the importance of the events described, be prepared to laugh out loud on some occasions.
I look forward to Bubbles Will Pop; part two in the series.
Beyond the importance of the events described, be prepared to laugh out loud on some occasions.
I look forward to Bubbles Will Pop; part two in the series.
August 10, 2014
I really liked this book! Some parts were hilarious! I can't wait to read the next ones!
August 8, 2016
While a bit slow to start and get into, there is some wonderful subtle humor in here ah-la The Office, but also a dark undercurrent of possible conspiracy and maybe a murder. Most of this is lost on our main character, who is delightfully naive, but as she slowly finds herself stumbling backwards into all manner of shady goings-on, real threats begin to manifest and loom over her head.
September 11, 2016
Author accurately depicts the stressful cubicle life of an honest and naive mid-range marketing type at a semi-sleazeball, high-tech, defense dept support contractor. I have some experience with this and was thoroughly entertained. The plotting is dense, sometimes bizarre, almost always compelling.
July 24, 2015
I only managed 70 pages before bailing.
Too much unnecessary and unnecessary description, along the lines of - and then she got up and walked over to look out the window.
Needs some tight editing to make it more punchy.
Too much unnecessary and unnecessary description, along the lines of - and then she got up and walked over to look out the window.
Needs some tight editing to make it more punchy.
October 21, 2015
The type of book you want to read in one sitting.
August 20, 2014
Got this one on a whim. Enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews