McCarthy's List — Mary Mackey

Written in the “first person insane,” McCarthy's List is zany, hilarious, irreverent contemplation of the madness of American culture. Rinda Sue McCarthy, born at the precise moment the atomic bomb burst over Hiroshima, sits in a Mexican jail awaiting execution by firing squad. As the Mexican soldiers practice their marksmanship outside her cell, she writes her confession: a tale of the crimes committed against her by the leaders of a Conspiracy She Is Not At Liberty To Name, and her murderous, but utterly apt revenge. Who are They? Old boyfriends, professors, doctors, her former husband--all of whom have sexually abused her, intellectually trivialized her, performed unnecessary operations on her, and committed her to a mental hospital against her will, not to mention condemned her to death. Is Rinda Sue a paranoid schizophrenic driven mad by growing up in Indianapolis in an era when Joe McCarthy (no relation) was frightening America with his vision of a great, secret communist conspiracy? Or is her behavior the only sane response to an insane world? Either way, Mackey has written a brilliant, dark comedy, witty, misanthropic, and entirely hilarious.