This is the second book to earn black holes ("The Fires of Coventry" being the first), a title of some indistinction. Whereas the first earned them by being simplistic, directionless and non-sensical, this one gets them for being complex to an insane degree, weaving and non-sensical. Mr. Hendrix claims to have a bachelors degree in Biology as well as some specialities in English, but it appears to be the words he cut out of all the magazines in the university library that have affected him the most. For this diatribe, he has pasted them together in the buzzword-laden manuscript from hell, the fact that it is his first novel perhaps excusing him slightly, but scaring me if more is to follow.

The premise of this book is... I dunno! Some comet from space seems to be loosly connected to strangly flying stealth mountains and rays from outer space that briefly bring the world to a higher intellectual plane. Well, bring me there too so I can see what the deal is.

"...the upshot of of crypto-behaviourist ideas ... at least in academic circles, was a generalized denial of the actuality of individual consciousness"

You are treated to phrases like this, along with latin quotes, insane haikus, and strange e-mail messages at least once every two pages, usually more frequently. My personal opinion is that Hendrix is trying to make himself look smart, though IMHO, he just isn't using that English degree. Perhaps he listened to his english teacher too hard when she kept talking about "deeper meaning"; bring an excavation team with you on this ride.

Though it gets 1.5 black holes from me, if you have a month free and a half dozen degrees in various fields, you might wanna give this a shot. Anyone else, I would leave it on the convenience store shelf.