Customer Reviews

Essential Saltes

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
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Looking for a smart, different kind of mystery tale? Try this brew of murder, sex, the occult, and bookish learning. It's Don Webb's followup to his first novel, THE DOUBLE; this one features Matthew Reynman, brother of John Reynman, THE DOUBLE's hero. But you don't need to have read THE DOUBLE. Just a sample of what you'll find here: chapters titled "Tzuris of Orfamay" and "Zeugma," a reference to "Falconer's CRYPTOMENYSIS," and the secret to constructing plots by means of ... well, you'll see. This pungent cross-section of Austin, Texas is several cuts above your run-of-the-mill mystery.

Many books are hard to categorize, and many books are categorized for marketing reasons rather than any formal genre definition. (Which is fine with me, genre definitions being so hard to come by.) _Essential Saltes_ seems to be marketed as a mystery, and indeed it is one. It's also arguably SF/Fantasy, though it's open to multiple readings. But it's definitely good, and filled with outré content that ought to satisfy our desire for the strange.

Don Webb has published boatloads of short stories. As a writer, he is weird, often funny, often strange, always interesting, and Texan. As a book, _Essential Saltes_ is all of those things. The protagonist is Matthew Reynman, a used-book dealer in Austin. His wife was murdered 2 years prior to the action, and now her ashes have been stolen. Matthew had promised to keep them and arrange for his and her ashes to be mixed and shot off in fireworks after his death. This really annoys him, and, much worse, his wife's murderer has been released from prison in a bureaucratic snafu. Matthew tries to find the thief of his wife's remains, and at the same time avoid being killed by his wife's murderer. The story involves many very odd characters, and a mix of subjects that in its eclecticness reminds me of Robertson Davies (though it's not a very Davies-like book): fireworks, sex, race, alchemy, used books, codes and code-breaking, mental illness, polyamory, and more. There are also some tantalizing hints of a story involving Matthew's brother John, which is the subject of Webb's first novel, _The Double_, also recommended.

_Essential Saltes_ is continually interesting just for the strange characters, the odd subject matter, and the well-described sex. The plot is full of action, but at times a bit discursive, and almost too strange for me. That is, the motivations of the very strange individuals involved were perhaps a bit too odd to always hold my interest. But the rest of the book was strong enough to keep me going, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Definitely worth reading.

The book isn't a quick read but in a rambling style that reminds me of Willam Gibson. I only could read a few chapters a day and then I'd have to stop to digest. This is a great book, full of humor, alot of wisdom, earnestness, and insight, and a bit of fantasy and sex. A bit of mystery too. It gives you a good feel for the city of Austin, TX and the weird folk there that are the norm for that city.

Based on the other reviews, I bought this book. I love science fiction, mysteries, and some fantasy, so it seemed an easy choice.

As it turned out, I just couldn't care about the people. They were too odd, too far out of my comfort zone. They behaved in ways that I found baffling and/or just stupid. There were too many concepts that I found altogether unbelievable.

Eventually, I became bored and tired of following the lives of people I would have referred to a good therapist. I finished the book, but it was a struggle. I didn't enjoy searching for hidden or obscure meaning, following it down side paths, interpreting it in light of a philosopher or other historical thinker about whom I know little, and then reassigning value to the passage that originally led me down the path.

I'm not a strait laced, religious person. I wasn't bothered by those concepts being flouted. I enjoy things that are unique and challenging. But I want to understand why characters behave as they do and why they are encouraged or discouraged from their behaviors. I couldn't find that understanding, and the ending just made me throw up my hands. The book is in the pile to donate somewhere.