The helpdesk: Contents not as advertised on the packet

I had read one novel by Shane (SA) Dunphy a few years ago, and while it was kind of weird, I rather liked it. I thought I would give his latest novel a go.

The helpdesk drew me in because of the blurb and the promise of an intriguing story based on a help desk staffer who penetrates and ruins the life of a caller asking for tech help one evening. Below is that promise:

James Fitzpatrick is a high-profile partner in one of London's most successful law firms. He's married to Bella. She's beautiful and clever, a teacher at one of London's most prestigious schools. They have the perfect lives.

But then, one night, a career-ending error sees James contact the IT helpdesk in desperation. A woman called Charlotte answers his call, setting in motion a series of events that would shatter James and Bella's lives.

But who is the woman at the other side of the computer screen? And why is she out for revenge?

Does this promise come to fruition? Ah, no. Read on to find out why.

The helpdesk | Published January 2023 | Read February 2024

We have all been there, calling up our company's help desk for an IT issue. In Dunphy's story, James's company outsources their tech support, so Charlotte from the help desk, who helps him find an important lost file, does not work for his law firm. She has super tech skills and access to a bunch of people's lives from the various organisations her company supports. All that was enough to make me want to read The helpdesk.

Unfortunately, The helpdesk is a hugely disappointing read. First of all, the main plot premise takes ages to kick off and that level of build-up is unnecessary, especially since there is no pay-off for it. There is a lot of energy devoted to James and his girlfriend, Bella (and their terrible relationship), throughout the whole book rather than a story of how Charlotte controls and destroys them.

James, Bella and Charlotte are all supremely unlikeable characters and there is no one to root for or even care about. It is not clear what role any of the three is supposed to play and they all suffer from extremely poor communication skills. I do not have to like characters in a book to connect with them, but the nasty ones need to have their motivations made clear. The three people in The helpdesk are just well...insufferable twats. Any attempts at characterisation came across as shallow and I did not feel like I knew any of them at all.

I spent the entire novel waiting for the blurb to become a reality but sadly, it never does. I felt cheated into reading a story that turns out to be about narcissism, cheating, and self-interest. There are some bits and pieces of Charlotte deleting important emails sent to James and an illegal transfer of money, but not much else on the tech side of things. I thought there would be a campaign of revenge against James with the horrible consequences played out, but that never eventuates.

This is an ambitious topic for Dunphy to tackle but he does not manage to pull it off, failing to provide any kind of exploration of the darker side of technology and how hacking can ruin people's lives. Bizarrely, that is NOT the point of the novel, as it turns out. I do not recall any issues with Dunphy's writing from the book I have read from his David Dunnigan series, but in The helpdesk, the writing is quite poor quality. The only character I liked was Caleb, the sports teacher at Bella's school, but he kind of fizzles out and we never find out what happens to him. The two detectives are caricatures and the ending is rushed, silly, and completely disconnected from the premise.

Rating: ⭐