UNION, NJ — Perhaps the introduction to “Shorte List” says it best: “It’s Christmas Eve in Townlee, New Jersey, and the small town’s hopes are riding on Bailey Hatchell, an overworked AI/hologram designer who’s made a walking, talking Charles Dickens that spins takes and spurns fools like the famous author of ‘A Christmas Carol.’
“Bailey’s invention, seven years in the making, could revive the town if the presentation to a billionaire gaming mogul goes well, but he wants to alter Bailey’s invention for his own gain. And while the town is excited about the potential tourist attraction, Bailey’s 9-year-old daughter, Hayley, is preoccupied with bigger problems as she heads into a Christmas Eve storm to find Santa Claus.
“Faced with restoring Hayley’s belief in Christmas or rescuing his hijacked hologram, only the arrival of a man claiming to be the real Charles Dickens can help Bailey unlock the magical Shorte List and save his daughter and the town. What follows is a high-stakes race against the clock, with Dickens and Santa leading the charge. Lively, funny and full of heart, this is a story about the true meaning of family and the power of believing in each other.”
It almost seems unfair that an author would describe his own book in a synopsis on the very first page, but that is exactly what Union resident Scott Menho has done in his very first novel, one that took him the same amount of time to write as it took for his main character to complete his invention. This book is a nice mix of science and fantasy, however, with enough Christmas hope thrown in for good measure to make it unforgettable.
Mehno recognizes early on that a memorable cast of characters is essential to telling his story, even if some of them fall into cliched categories of their own. Bailey Hatchell is very reminiscent of George Bailey, the main character of the classic Christmas tale “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but the similarities are more of a flattering homage.
Bailey’s daughter, Hayley, a “plucky, persistent fourth-grader,” finds her belief in Santa Claus tested and, indeed, the plots of Bailey trying to save and market his invention and Hayley determining if there is really a Santa go back and forth to drive this book along at a sometimes frantic pace.
There are numerous protagonists for our father and daughter combo to battle against. Dree Bewtaine runs the small business Bailey started with him, but she now owns it and has little concern for protecting his creation, as long as she makes enough money. Ned Gradich is a town foreclosure lawyer and wheeler-dealer of the worst kind. Hodge Nuli is a hi-tech Silicon Valley gaming billionaire with a conquer-and-divide approach to business, including Bailey’s Ornimaze. His teenage sons, The Tiny Terrors, are game testers who want to redesign Bailey’s wonderful AI of Charles Dickens to appeal to the teen market, with disastrous results. Throw in Bailey’s wife, Lellie; his son, Lonnie; his mother, Marney; and about half a dozen other wild characters and it’s a wonder anything can happen without exploding in Bailey’s face.
But there are two more characters to mention, and they might be the most important of all: Santee and Charles Dickens. Is Santee really Santee Claus, a 200-plus-year-old man with an ancient book known as the Shorte List, which contains the names of those people who know he’s “real”? Is Charles Dickens a 200-year-old man fond of drink and short on suffering fools or fawning adulators who will help Bailey and Townlee restore the magic of Christmas? And is there any way you can resist the charms that this book offers and not read it all in one sitting, particularly on a dark and cold night as winter is upon us?
Mehno has written a captivating novel that is difficult to put down, with its characters coming to life so wonderfully. They are flawed, recognizable, human. But you can’t help hoping that, in the end, they find a way to beat the odds and succeed. And while it may take some time for it to become the Christmas classic that is Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” this is definitely one book that you should add to your shelf of works to read, particularly as the year draws to a close.