Neurosis behind the door, delusions at the desk

Cheeky, dark and clamorous, it’s an escapade into a Toronto corporate law firm. Perhaps inside out is a better term as Philip Slayton slides readers through the hallways and into the heads of some curious and some very strange characters.

Piper Fantouche is a junior partner at Dibbet & Dibbet whose billable hours are hundreds short of what is acceptable by the firm. When she is offered a spot on the team handling a bank’s takeover of an insurance company, she is relieved.

Piper’s world is diffident, she goes with the flow. She has the condo, the car, the boyfriend and they are all suitable enough. However she’s not sure her life is what it should be.

“Dibbets” is not a harmonious place. Snide remarks and sneering conversations are the norm for dissolute rivals within the firm. And while the intent of the takeover is not public, the insurance company share price has risen dramatically and the regulator has suspended trading. Then the murder takes place.

There were times I chuckled out loud; luckily on the subway no one pays attention. Is the novel a peek inside a real law firm? Probably. Will insiders recognize aspects of a lawyer’s personality residing in some of the book’s characters? Likely. Or perhaps not. I’m not a corporate lawyer I just know a few, and none of them reside inside the covers of this novel.

This is a fun book, a quick read that is lively and entertaining. If you need a lift pick it up.

June Lorraine

Editorial Transparency:
A copy of this book was provided free by the publisher Oblonsky Editions.
As always, opinions expressed are my own.