
by shadowy agencies and conspirators with baroque names, such as Baridi Rappaccini, Adjuster Number Two, and Raff Maunder, among others. Their motives involve technology that allows wormhole manipulation and the suppression (or exposure) of secrets that seem too strange for conventional reality. Via narrators such as Reardon Pareidolia and Dejado Abandonado, Fulstone dramatizes a world where paranoia is indistinguishable from truth, and where every revelation seems to be a delusion. As the story advances, the files grow more unstable: Peregrino, a doctor, writes an unnerving letter blending maritime anecdotes with apocalyptic visions, capped by a grotesque poem\u003B John Marcher (adopting the name of Henry James’ disabled protagonist from the 1903 novella The Beast in the Jungle) wonders whether all that preceded his section was simply the product of psychiatric confinement. The novel thus destabilizes its own foundations, suggesting that its extravagant tales of interdimensional travel, conspiracies, and abductions may be nothing more—or less—than the visions of the institutionalized. Fulstone’s strengths lie in his work’s tonal and conceptual daring. The work gleefully mixes pulp tropes with literary allusions, invoking Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas Pynchon, and Vladimir Nabokov in its labyrinthine layering, and the metafictional design—documents within documents, voices contradicting each other—creates an atmosphere of constant instability. The proliferation of aliases, shadowy agencies, and surreal conspiracies verges on incoherence, and shifts from satirical parody to grotesque horror may further alienate readers\u003B a disturbing poem invoking “naked women and children” as corpses, for instance, feels more gratuitous than illuminating. The narrative’s climax disperses rather than focuses the narrative, raising provocative questions but declining to pursue them with discipline. Still, this unsettling work’s messy audacity, refusal of closure, and hall\u002Dof\u002Dmirrors voice\u002Dplay will ensure that even frustrated readers won’t forget it."⭐ 5.0/5(2)