Ruddy McCann's life is going nowhere fast. He's working as a repo man in the small Michigan town where he grew up, trying to deal (or not) with a big mistake he made in the past. Then he has a strange dream about being coldly murdered by two men he's never met, and not long after that, he starts hearing a voice in his head. A voice that insists its name is Alan Lottner.
Slowly, grudgingly, Ruddy starts to dig into the matter of whether Alan really existed, and if so, what happened to him. This among attempts to get a vehicle from a stubborn guy, and to help the people closest to him in his life. Ruddy's sister is trying to make the family bar more upscale, more family-oriented. His friend Jimmy can't stop doing dumb shit. The middle-aged married couple that come to the bar can't stop coming up with terrible get-rich-quick schemes they want Ruddy to help with.
It's a curious approach, because it paints Ruddy as someone who wants to try and help the people he cares about, even though there's little going on in his own life to suggest he's got any business doling out life advice. It also means Cameron goes through long stretches where Alan's situation is less of a mystery to be solved, and more an excuse to have a character to give Ruddy grief inside his head. Not so much a heckler as a harsh critic.
Cameron also establishes Alan can only see what Ruddy's looking at, and while Ruddy hears Alan inside his head, Alan can't hear Ruddy unless the repo man speaks aloud. So there are a lot of scenes of Ruddy getting annoyed and then realizing people are looking at him like he's crazy. Each one is usually over quickly enough to not be too annoying, but your mileage may vary.
None of the bits that seem intended to make the reader laugh landed with me, but they do establish the usual stakes in Ruddy's life, and also that Ruddy seems content to stay right where he is. Everyone else in his life is trying to improve their lot. Granted, most of them are doing so in the stupidest or laziest ways possible, but they're trying to grab something that will bring them happiness. Ruddy's content to chug along in the rut he occupies.
Point being, there are times you'd forget there was a mystery to solve at all. Unless it was the mystery of how Ruddy can un-fuck his life. But Cameron doesn't write Ruddy as unusually bright, or terribly interested in solving a crime. Probably because he is bright enough to know this is out of his wheelhouse. So the missteps, the screw-ups, the constant putting of foot in mouth around the sheriff, those at least fit someone who is trying to do the right thing with a minimal investment, at least at first.
There's also a subplot where Ruddy met Alan's now grown-up daughter before Alan's voice appeared. So Ruddy's fumbling about, trying to be witty or charming while Alan alternately mourns missing her childhood, or tsks disapprovingly about Ruddy - whose life Alan's become well-acquainted with - getting near his daughter.
'"No. You're right. I didn't create you out of my imagination. You lived, you sold real estate, you ironed your pants."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I've just never seen so many creases on a living person. You looked like you could give someone a paper cut."'
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