Silicon Valley novel tackles achievement obsession
My new Silicon Valley novel, THE WONDER TEST, hits shelves today. In a review of THE WONDER TEST for the San Francisco Chronicle, Anita Felicelli writes,
“Contemporary fiction set in or around Silicon Valley doesn’t always reach far enough with its absurdity and speculation.. Richmond’s eighth work of fiction, “The Wonder Test,” hits the right notes. It is a madcap suspense novel with a clever premise.”
In THE WONDER TEST, recently widowed FBI agent Lina Connerly relocates from New York City to an affluent suburb in Silicon Valley with her teenaged son, Rory, to clear out her father’s home and get her life back in order after a series of traumatic setbacks.
After enrolling Rory in the public school, which is obsessed with an annual exam called the Wonder Test that has put the small town of Greenfield on the map, Lina is drawn into a mystery involving local teens who go missing. Meanwhile, colleagues back in New York keep trying to rope her back into and old espionage case that needs her attention.
What a blast this novel was to write! Inspired in part by a move to a small town south of San Francisco 12 years ago, and in part by nearly 25 years as an FBI spouse, this “sharply written, subtly satirical thriller” (Publishers Weekly) imagines high-achieving parents and communities in Silicon Valley willing to put their children through the most extreme paces in pursuit of excellence. Oddly enough, this Silicon Valley novel also pays homage to Shirley Jackson, author of the famous short story “The Lottery”–a story about good citizens committing heinous crimes. Jackson lived and wrote for years in the neighborhood where THE WONDER TEST is set.
THE WONDER TEST is also about grief: how we go on and rebuild our lives after the foundation has crumbled, and how work can be a solid force that helps us survive the worst. Did I mention it’s also a bit of a spy novel?
The most enjoyable part of the book, however, was writing the WONDER TEST questions at the beginning of each chapter, like “Square feet is to cubic feet as time is to what?” and “Provide examples to illustrate the term ‘diminishing returns’ without providing so many examples as to achieve diminishing returns.” The questions were inspired by many years of elementary school homework, during which my husband, son and I attempted to find the “right” answer for a series of increasingly absurd standardized test questions.
“Richmond’s (The Marriage Pact) latest is a two-in-one winner: a gripping thriller set in a Stepford-esque California suburb, and a story of surviving loss and building family bonds. With a realistic protagonist, well-described setting, and an uber-creepy villain, it will please readers who like their stories with action and heart in equal measure.”—Liz French, Library Journal
I talked with Jessica Zack of San Francisco Chronicle Datebook about the story behind THE WONDER TEST, and how the seemingly far-fetched so often comes to pass.
You can buy the book at your local independent bookstore, or you can purchase it online through your favorite retailer.
Buy indie: Get THE WONDER TEST at Bookshop.org
Also available on Amazon / Barnes & Noble