Book Review: Extraterrestrial Noir by Rich Leder

Reviewed by Chelsey Tucker

An alien drops into secret-plagued suburbia in this tale of hilarious insanity and grotesque revenge.

Maggie Devine is lying on the front lawn with her family, hoping to catch sight of meteors. Mindlessly, or perhaps intentionally, she beams out an SOS into the universe. Her marriage has been falling apart for years, and now they are financially strapped.

Suddenly, a silver boot-sized box comes shooting down from space and through the roof of the Devine’s white Colonial in Paramus, New Jersey. Secrets of the universe and secrets of suburbia turn out to share a lot in common.

The alien boot box ends up transforming into the late noir film star Alan Ladd, claiming he has come to answer Maggie’s SOS and assist their family. Connie, Maggie’s husband, owes a quarter of a million dollars to their neighbor, Bill, who gives Connie the weekend to settle up.

Bill is the mobster type who is in bed with international drug dealers, and to make matters worse, another neighbor’s daughter, Teresa, has it out for Connie’s daughter. Teresa is “The gruesome girl next door. Psycho killer.” All of their suburban secrets are revealed by this Alan Ladd lookalike alien who “had time” to learn about everything ever written in human history and then some, including personal information and every piece of entertainment ever created.

With the Devine family objectively screwed and out of options, they decide to trust the alien even though “the reason he’s here is a known unknown—we know we don’t know why he’s here.” The mysterious extraterrestrial is undoubtedly a good sign, a light to guide their way. Only thing is: we never know when the alien is telling the truth. After the first act of criminality—when a non-violent diamond heist leads to murder—there is no slowing down, just an avalanche of sabotage, gunfights, arms dealing, and more. All the chaos one could hope for in a comic thriller.

The language in Extraterrestrial Noir is fun, quirky, dark, and sophisticated. Very much like the noir films from the 1940s would feel. There is even usage of alliteration which plays into the tempo of a scene just as much as it ratchets up the humor. Leder makes action-packed scenes feel like musical compositions.

Repetition is used to great effect too. Characters often have their own taglines involving different themes. Connie, for example, is always thinking about where he is in life, and it allows for some sharp insight into his character, like: “The wrong side of the line is where I am in my life.” And while he’s saying that, his wife mentions the different ways the suburbs can kill you, one being how “the suburbs can kill you with exhaustion.”

Extraterrestrial Noir is a wild ride. Sci-fi & close encounter fans will love the hilarious and horrifying nature of this story.

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