nlowell reviewed Wyrmhole by Jay Caselberg
Noir Space
5 stars
Caselberg mixes a potent cocktail of detective noir with science fantasy in this first Jack Stein novel.
Wyrmhole presents a frighteningly real universe where money, science, and the paranormal combine to create a culture that's as much warning as promise. The characters - especially Heironymous "Pinpin" Dan and Joshua Van der Stegan - feel so real you almost want to take a shower after meeting them.
Jack Stein - a Psychic Investigator - finds himself chasing his own tail in search of missing miners, a missing minor, and the meaning of his own existence. When a seemingly straightforward case of industrial tragedy takes a turn for the weird, Stein gets pulled into the seemingly incompatible worlds of alchemy and quantum physics. He's forced to rely on an abused pre-teen savant, a too-competent clerk, and his own brand of eldritch luck to solve the case.
Stein represents the noir detective so …
Caselberg mixes a potent cocktail of detective noir with science fantasy in this first Jack Stein novel.
Wyrmhole presents a frighteningly real universe where money, science, and the paranormal combine to create a culture that's as much warning as promise. The characters - especially Heironymous "Pinpin" Dan and Joshua Van der Stegan - feel so real you almost want to take a shower after meeting them.
Jack Stein - a Psychic Investigator - finds himself chasing his own tail in search of missing miners, a missing minor, and the meaning of his own existence. When a seemingly straightforward case of industrial tragedy takes a turn for the weird, Stein gets pulled into the seemingly incompatible worlds of alchemy and quantum physics. He's forced to rely on an abused pre-teen savant, a too-competent clerk, and his own brand of eldritch luck to solve the case.
Stein represents the noir detective so well, he could almost have come straight from the 1940s. Disillusioned. Self-destructive. Tortured by a past he can't seem to leave behind.
Highly recommended.