The Real McCoy, Strauss. No. Strauss shows every sign of being a skilled writer, and mechanically I have no complaints. Even the flirting with non-linear narrative was not overly distracting, though neither did it serve any discernible purpose—except, perhaps, to mask how little story there was. Skill notwithstanding, the world Strauss presents is filled with unpleasant people, about whom I could not have cared much less. I did experience occasional flickers of interest, which leads me to suspect this might have been a decent, or at least bearable, novella.