Review: Charlie is Paranoid About Being Late, But Late for What?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 18, 2012
Charlie Hoag, a man who believes in punctuality, so much so he's terrified of being late.  Unlucky for Charlie, the traffic was heavy and there's no parking. Throw in the fact, in Charlie's mind at least, this is the most important day of his life.  We know he has been summoned, but for what?  Originally I assumed this was a court summons where Charlie would get to be the star witness and become popular in his mind for the first time in his life as Charlie is a bit of social loser.  But early on Charlie is relieved to see a human on the front desk and not a robot like the fast food industry use.  So immediately then your mind takes you to the future or at least some sort of sci-fi tale setting.  Anyway it's pretty obvious Charlie's summons isn't for court.  The thing that keeps you gripped and makes you keep reading, even when you're finding Charlie to be probably the most annoying character you've ever read, is the mystery of what Charlie is waiting for and why it's just so important in his mind not to be late.  The only let down is if you had to take a stab in the dark with all the possibilities, that stab happens to be right on the money.It's a story that doesn't explain everything, you do find out what Charlie is waiting for but you don't find out why which leaves you a bit unsatisfied.  This does add a few questions of what the hey was that all about? People are referred to by numbers when interacting but is this actually the future?  Or were the robot references a descriptive way for Charlie to describe service where workers follow a script such as would you like fires with that? Eat in or takeaway? Was this story instead actually set in the past?It's well written, I'll check out other books by Vincent Hobbs.