Customer Reviews

Book of Secrets

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"Book of Secrets" is (1) a crime novel, reminiscent of the noir fiction of the thirties; (2) a meta-fiction celebrating American genre fiction of the thirties, forties and fifties; (3) a bildungsroman about the spiritual journey of a young man; (4) a portal fantasy.

As you might glean from the previous paragraph, Mr. Roberson tells several stories in several forms. If we look for "the figure in the carpet" imagine an "x." One bar of the "x" progresses chronologically; that is the first person narrative of an investigative reporter by the name of Spencer Finch. Spencer Finch is on an assignment for the magazine "Logion" to reveal the nefarious dealings of a Houston bigwig by the name of J. Nathan Pierce, known as "Nez."

From this initial information, however, we are alerted that this is not your usual hard-boiled fiction based in the hard-scrabble world of reality. First, "Logion" is an online magazine and its name alerts us (perhaps warns us) that we are in "metaphysical" country. "Logion" refers to the traditional maxims and proverbs told by a sage or prophet. In most instances it is used to describe the maxims of Jesus. So, our protagonist is writing for a metaphysical or a religiously oriented virtual magazine, although that is never stated.

Next, Mr. Pierce, our unseen or barely seen subject, is called "Nez." This is obviously a reference to the Indian tribe--Nez Perce--who not only had their own unique language but a highly developed mythology. Languages and mythologies become a theme and Mr Roberson introduces us to various mysteries revolving around a mysterious book written in many hands and many languages.

Situated in the metaphysical world, we are now alert to possible puzzles of meaning. After all, it is a mystery or is it?

Not to put too fine a point on it and not to scare off any reader, the novel is also a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a novel that has as its main theme the formative years or spiritual education of one person. The one person in this case is Spencer Finch and the purpose of the first leg of the "x" is to take the reader on a chronological journey through his spiritual development.

The second leg of the "x," however, is the fantastical element of the novel. Its narrative moves in reverse toward the past. Just as a good metaphysical investigation, the reader must follow the past through a series of short stories about a family of do-goers named the Black Hand to the "happy" origins of humanity.

Mr. Roberson uses these stories, short stories, to educate the reader, solve the mystery, and display the various genres--short story, pulp fiction, tragedy, etc--that were used in pulp fiction. Additionally, and this is very important because it elevates the novel, Roberson, by actually including the stories rather than describing them, inducts and educates the reader into the pleasure of pulp. This not only shows his versatility and enriches the text of the book but also reveals his inherent connection to the pulp tradition.

Before I move on I think we should illustrate our point and reveal Roberson's genius in actually writing the stories and including them in the narrative. Upon the death of his grandfather, Finch inherits a box of pulp magazines. The first story he reads is "The Talon's Curse" by Walter Reece. This story is the closest in time to the action of the novel and begins the count-down to the journey backwards toward the beginning of man. "The Talon's Curse" is a noir/mystery situated in San Franciso in the thirties. The next story is a Western written in 1918. Each story elicits the qualities and the identity of the members of the Black Hand.

The backward progression through the use of genre ushers the reader ultimately into the "original" world of myth and religion. This point is the intersection of the "x," and to punctuate the point, Roberson takes us through the looking glass to another world, to a world of crystal populated by angels and demi-urges.

Herein lies the fantasy and the speculation that earns the book its classification as "slipstream". If we sub-categorize it, this portion of the novel is a "portal" novel, in the vein of David Lindsay (Voyage to Arcturus) and C. S. Lewis (Perelandra).

So once we parse the pieces and put them back together, we discover that "Book of Secrets" is a book of genres. In other words, it is a celebration of the age of pulp with a meta-fictional slant. It moves in two directions--a very readable first person narrative in the form of a crime novel that progresses to the conclusion of the mystery and a fantasy novel that moves in reverse to disclose the nature of the universe. The two stories collide at the portal and the protagonist falls through it into a world of angels and gnostic demi-urges. This is the denouement and the moment of fantasy.

In conclusion I will summarize some other things I liked about the novel.

Roberson situates the action in my place--my physical space. I went to school in Houston, practiced law in Austin, and now live in Dallas. I know El Paso like the back of my hand. These western spaces plus New Orleans is Spencer's place and that in itself endeared the novel to me. Roberson described them clearly and truthfully and I felt and saw each city in the telling.

Second, Roberson is just a damn fine writer. He writes a good sentence; the novel is structured like a Swiss watch and paced like a Tennessee walker.

Third, in the time of the post-Tolkienians and the novel as brick, "Book of Secrets" is unique, refreshing, breezy, and fun.

Spencer Finch is an investigative journalist who is researching billionaire J. Nathan Pierce for one of his stories. In the course of his research, he discovers that a mysterious book was recently stolen from Pierce, and it's this book that will lead Finch on a fascinating and unlikely journey with far-reaching implications. Early on in the story, Finch also receives his recently deceased grandfather's inheritance: a box full of stories and other texts. These gradually add a whole new dimension to both his grandfather's legacy and the secret, real history of the world...

If all of this sounds confusing, rest assured: Chris Roberson is a great storyteller who expertly reveals the layers of his tale as Finch slowly discovers the real reason for his story assignment. Finch is an interesting main character: a hard-drinking, chain-smoking investigator with a shady past and a chip on his shoulder. As the reader learns more about his past, it becomes increasingly clear that Book of Secrets is as much about Finch coming to terms with himself as about the mystery and arcana of the main plot. Along the way, the reader is also introduced to a number of colorful and often fascinating side characters -- my favorite being the ex-convict bartender and enthusiastic preacher of the Gospel of Odin.

Book of Secrets has an interesting structure: the story is divided into seven chapters, each covering one day of Finch's investigation. At the end of each day, when Finch is too wired to sleep, he reads one of the texts he received in his grandfather's inheritance, and these texts are inserted into the novel after every chapter but the last one. The texts are offered in reverse chronological order, and while the first one (a pulp story about the exploits of a caped crusader called "the Black Hand") may make you think that this feature is just a gimmick, by the second or third one you'll start noticing some genuinely interesting patterns and parallels. Once those became clear, I could not put this book down and raced through it in record time.

Unfortunately, after almost 250 pages of simply excellent storytelling, Book of Secrets takes a sudden turn for the worse. One scene (the auction) is so over-the-top that it just doesn't mesh with the rest of the book, and the new characters it introduces are too stereotypical. After this, the novel works its way to a deus ex machina ending that frankly felt like a huge letdown after the slow build-up of tension throughout the novel.

Still, Book of Secrets is an incredibly entertaining and rewarding read for most of the way. Chris Roberson doesn't spell everything out for the reader, instead leaving some hints and references that, if you catch them, will have your head spinning. If you have any interest in secret history/conspiracy stories, definitely check out Book of Secrets.

I really like the idea. This is a good concept and it could have benefited from more complex exploration. My summation is that the author should have let himself go a bit more and made greater use of what is rich backstory and well-imagined story world. Too often it felt like a recounting more than a telling. That said, it was a good read and worth an afternoon on the couch.