'Moral Hazard' is a hazard of a novel

Kate Jennings undoubtedly knows that wit is "in." Yet, for all its trying, Jennings' second novel Moral Hazard lacks the kind of fresh, sharp sarcasm that has proved to be a key ingredient in the making of the successful modern novel. It is saddening, to say the least, because Moral Hazard has the potential to reach a depth rarely seen in today's literary world. Jennings' novel spends so much time convincing the reader the text is witty that it fails to fully build upon and illuminate the method behind the plot's madness: Alzheimer's disease.

To say that Moral Hazard has a risky plot would be a gross understatement. Jennings takes two totally unrelated subjects, Alzheimer's and capitalist finance, and tries to tie them both to Cath, the "heroine" of the story. The result is not pretty.

Cath, a 40-something liberal, narrates the novel. She calmly explains to the reader within the first 20 pages how Bailey, her husband of 10 years, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and how the cost of the treatment forced her to take a job writing speeches for a Wall Street bank.

Wall Street is a place of conservative capitalists, and Jennings incorporates all the stereotypes she can think of into the chapters about Cath's job. Several unique characters crop up in the six years Cath works for the investment bank. The Alzheimer's story line is virtually buried under the complicated issues of finance. Unless the reader is an expert on investment banking, the dialogue and different business personalities are lost, skimmed over and deemed all but irrelevant. At best, the financial relevance is confusing and disjointed with what seems to be the real story.

Although Jennings buries the heart of the novel, her style is enjoyable. The book is not overwhelming in size and the text is clean, short and direct. However, the bare text makes for an impersonal read. Her style does not give adequate attention to the seriousness of Alzheimer's disease. Six years pass with a page's turn. It is understood from the beginning that Cath is not very compassionate, and her attitude follows suit through the last chapters.

The most enjoyable character in Moral Hazard is Bailey, Cath's husband. He is the only character with depth, the only character readers will want to know better. Jennings' novel would be much more enjoyable if it made better use of Bailey's plight with Alzheimer's. It tells the reader what it should be showing them. Although reader-friendly, Moral Hazard tries too hard to be witty, and not hard enough to show the human side of a supremely interesting disease.