ONE MORNING THEORETICAL physicist John Ringer, sitting at his desk in his university, receives a cryptic text message. ‘Cd me: H’. Who is H? His ex-lover Helen? Or is it a wrong number? So begins this highly inventive and oddly compelling novel, which encompasses parallel universes and parallel narrators. Andrew Crumey takes huge risks with his story by combining a multiplicity of genres – sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, farce; but somehow he carries it off. He teases us with scientific puzzles and paradoxes, entertains us with the elasticity of his plot, and before too long the reader begins to doubt his own grasp on reality.

Subscribe or Sign In to read the full article