The Happiest People in the World

Clarke (An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England) strikes subversive gold with this rip-roaring satire of espionage thrillers. Jens Baedrup, an eternally optimistic Danish cartoonist, finds himself on the run after publishing a drawing that results in his house being set afire by Muslim teenagers. The CIA agent charged with protecting Baedrup sends him to the tiny town of Broomeville, NY—not because it's a particularly safe place, but because she is still carrying a torch for Matty, the town's married high school principal. Once he arrives in Broomeville, Jens changes his name to Henry Larsen, becomes the high school guidance counselor, and promptly falls in love with Ellen, Matty's wife and the owner of the local bar. Nobody in Broomeville is exactly who they seem to be, and everyone is much more heavily armed and closer to self-destructing than Henry can fathom as he chirps his mindless assurance that everything will turn out fine. Against this offbeat backdrop, Clarke pokes fun at a wide variety of targets, including paranoia, gun ownership, terrorism, incompetent teachers, clandestine surveillance, hypocrisy, adultery, and drug use. The prose is marked with long passages that unfold the character's thoughts in confused and serpentine streams of consciousness that highlight both the madcap absurdity and the deep, underlying sadness of their tragicomic predicaments.