A Spanner in the Works (Book) Review
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Toby Shanks is nothing short of apocalyptic. As a hard working civil services employee, Toby has done more to wreak havoc and cause mayhem than any sleeper agent could ever hope to accomplish – and Toby does it all with pure, unbridled incompetence. As you may know, it’s a tough job to fire a government […]
Toby Shanks is nothing short of apocalyptic.
As a hard working civil services employee, Toby has done more to wreak havoc and cause mayhem than any sleeper agent could ever hope to accomplish – and Toby does it all with pure, unbridled incompetence. As you may know, it’s a tough job to fire a government employee. So rather than going through the whole rigamarole of firing Toby, his bosses have taken the easy way out. Every time he fouls up immensely, they simply give him a “promotion” and send him along to be another department’s problem. It works out great for his former employers, but not so well for his new departments who are sent a seemingly exemplary employee – only finding out when it’s far too late just how disastrous Toby can be.
Poor Toby – all of that promoting has left him thinking that he truly is God’s gift to the public service sector. As bumbling as he is, he is inordinately confident in his abilities – and his unique fashion sense. But when a disastrous clerical error is made that sends him into the job of his dreams – which he has absolutely no experience in – no one could predict how very much trouble one person can cause to the department – and to national security. Soon, Toby is wrapped up in a dastardly plot by the Russians to create an international disaster. As clueless as he is to the horrible plot he is helping to instigate, we can only hope that Toby will bumble himself into a solution that won’t end up with him getting killed.
A Spanner in the Works is an often amusing read, as you wonder what kind of trouble Toby can possibly get himself into next. But it’s also kind of sad – poor Toby really has no idea why things don’t ever work out for him, and you find yourself pulling for the poor guy, even if he is a complete idiot. Though it doesn’t really qualify as a fast paced political thriller, it’s a fun light read that is really quite unique. There are some decidedly adult scenes, though, so I wouldn’t recommend it for anything other than adult readers.