What I'm Reading -- The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas

Scarlett Thomas is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I absolutely loved Popco and reviewed it earlier this year. This time Thomas is writing about a mysterious book that could be cursed. Everyone involved in the book ends of dead or missing. Ariel, a graduate student working on studying the book’s author, ends up with the only remaining copy of The End of Mr. Y. Her professor at the university goes missing, but Ariel decides to read it and solve the mystery. Thus begins a wild adventure which partly takes place in this world and partly in a parallel universe made up of thoughts, evil children, trains fueled by fear and the god of mice. This is an incredibly bizarre and trippy book and I did not realize it would become a Sci-Fi Adventure story when I started reading it. Thomas has to lay down a lot of background information into religious beliefs and especially thought experiments by people like Albert Einstein, so that the story makes sense. The characters are very well written and Thomas presents a smart female lead character similar to her heroine in Popco. The End of Mr. Y is a thoughtful, weird and raw novel. This is highly recommended, though it is not an easy read by any means.