Dr. No: A Novel

Written by Percival Everett

Narrated by Amir Abdullah

A sly, madcap novel about supervillains and nothing, really, from an American novelist whose star keeps rising

The protagonist of Percival Everett's puckish new novel is a brilliant professor of mathematics who goes by Wala Kitu. (Wala, he explains, means "nothing" in Tagalog, and Kitu is Swahili for "nothing.") He is an expert on nothing. That is to say, he is an expert, and his area of study is nothing, and he does nothing about it. This makes him the perfect partner for the aspiring villain John Sill, who wants to break into Fort Knox to steal, well, not gold bars but a shoebox containing nothing. Once he controls nothing he'll proceed with a dastardly plan to turn a Massachusetts town into nothing. Or so he thinks.

With the help of the brainy and brainwashed astrophysicist-turned-henchwoman Eigen Vector, our professor tries to foil the villain while remaining in his employ. In the process, Wala Kitu learns that Sill's desire to become a literal Bond villain originated in some real all-American villainy related to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. As Sill says, "Professor, think of it this way. This country has never given anything to us and it never will. We have given everything to it. I think it's time we gave nothing back."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Nov 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765065709

Percival Everett

Percival Everett is the author of over thirty books, including So Much Blue, Telephone, Dr No and The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His novel Erasure has now been adapted into the major film American Fiction. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for Dr. No

[Joe Matazzoni · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the book well enough but it has absolutely no conclusion. It builds up to a big moment at the end and then just leaves everyone hanging with no resolution whatsoever. When the audiobook ended, I literally had to check to make sure that there wasn't something wrong with the file.

[martin sensiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. Godel might like it or Godel might not like it. (I needed more words. SHeeesh)

[H. Bradford Morris III · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having heard of this author with his new book, "James", which goes through the events in "Huckleberry Finn" from a different perspective. That book's not ready, and I'm so glad I discovered this. In addition to the word games and situational humor that provide great insight into our society, as one who spent significant time working with students with Autism, I appreciate the nuanced understanding the author gives to individuals with extremely high functioning Autism. As I often thought with my students, the main characters observations, concerns, and reactions are totally sensible and perhaps more reasonable than cultural conventions they don't grasp because of their nuanced partial disconnect with others in society. Further, the main character grows in his self-awareness and capacity to delve deeper into human relationships through the trials of this raucous tale. :-)

[BluePsion · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was uncomfortable at the depiction of autistic people seemed kind of like a ministry show.

[Sharon Traylor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you like satire you will like this book…..enjoy Happy reading