Hire Idiots by Professor I M Nemo
I would like to thank Fox Spirit for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Fox Spirit Books
Published Out Now
Price - £3.99 Kindle eBook £8.99 paperback
Professor stabbed to death at Kingsley College. Unfortunately, the murder may get lost in the confusion of new vice-presidents, marketers, focus groups, assessors and protestors as the administration tries to make education profitable. There’s no time for mystery!
Professor Clarence Van Dyke finds himself bewildered by the changes but determined to get to the bottom of the killing. He wants his friend to rest in peace – or perhaps he wants to spend more time with the attractive Detective Riodan. But isn’t he the primary suspect?
Increasingly education is seen on both sides of the Atlantic as a lucrative business opportunity with corporations taking a role in the management of children and teenager’s development. In Professor I M Nemo’s short satirical novel this idea is explored with added murder!
Professor Clarence Van Dyke is always a tad bewildered – how his wife left him after various affairs; how a friend of his was killed and how his cosy life at the little known but still respected Kingsley College is being turned upside down now its several million dollars in the red. As his more attuned colleagues patiently explain this is a standard corporation technique – use creative accounting to say the place is losing money; install new business leaders ahem vice presidents and look to cut out those things that cannot make money i.e. the liberal arts. The English Literature professors find themselves staring at assessments; new leadership and the days of their tenures oh and one of them may be a killer.
As someone who sadly works on the corporate side; I wince at the very familiar use of consultants to turn around businesses. Using the same techniques to say someone has an issue; get paid loads to fix it and then make everyone less productive is a tried and tested method. Nemo’s satire points are clearly showing someone familiar with the sharp end of this practise and those scenes are painfully true and well depicted. The message is clear that business doesn’t really understand the value of education. Unfortunately, I found the wider story to tell us that was a little bit frothy. The murder mystery felt more an add on rather than key to the story and I found the permanently bewildered Van Dyke not an engaging character but more a selfish one focused on their own lifestyle rather than impact to the college. Overall, I couldn’t really relax into the book – its heart is in the right place; but the satire probably needed a bit more bite and a better framing mechanism to pull me in. If you’d like a sharp put down of education’s increasing commercialisation this one may be however more in your lane than mine.
