Jarring and gimmick-laden to his core, Nicholson Baker writes books for the literate end off the Steve O generation. \Vox"" was a Penthouse letter masked by big words and wit; a phone sex transcription that took 176 pages. And while ""Vox"" had that element of self-reflected irony-that people would read the book in the same light that people have phone sex, his new novel ""Checkpoint"" does not. There just isn't that much here.
""Checkpoint"" is another transcription, that of George W. Bush's would-be assassin and his journalist friend, who tries to talk him down. Jay and Ben spend the book in the same hotel room in a remarkably stagnant conversation. But it isn't the dialogue people will be drawn to. Baker hopes to draw readers with unprecedented realism. George W. is real. The products he mentions are real. The protests Jay and Ben discuss are real. The charges Jay and Ben lob against the president are real. It's like voyeurism for the left wing, providing the most adolescent of their fantasies.
It's pretty dull voyeurism, though. The characters are so flat the conversation goes nowhere, and Baker knows it. He can't sustain intensity in the discussion because the character's never bring it in. Much of the book is in off topic side conversations, after Jay announces that he's going to murder the leader of the new world, they talk about Ben's wife, work and new digital camera. Apparently, nothing is outrageous enough to capture Ben's attention for too long.
And the plan itself is outrageous, not just in scope but in schematics too. Jay plans to use remote control boulders and flying buzz-saws. He even buys magic bullets. Baker doesn't delve very far into his madness or his personality, choosing to leave him bullet pointing grievances with President Bush. Ben joins in too, as a man with equal hatred for the president. They are essentially the same character talking to each other, with action deliberately outside the scope of the book. It's all the fun of an ISO meeting without the free coffee.
Excitement may not be the point; however, there is an element of voyeurism in watching two guys in a hotel room discussing the real world as one of them plots a major event out-loud. But, even as a 117-page book, that is too little fun to sustain its ranting dialogue.
""Checkpoint"" goes out of its way to force its way into the real world, identifying every real thing by name. But if the game is mostly to play within our reality, Baker shouldn't have introduced so many fake characters, even two. This is a first person event drawn into the second person. The line ""Jay: I am going to kill George Bush"" will never be as chilling as, ""I am going to kill George Bush.""
Without a character or a message or a plot worth following in ""Checkpoint"" what's left is a hollow transcript and a gimmick. And, the visceral pleasure of Bush bashing left aside, the gimmick isn't good enough.
