Book Review – Singularity by Helena Hann-Basquiat with Sara Litchfield, Sandy Ramsey, Lizzi Rogers, Hannah Sears

The subject matter of Singularity is not my usual cup of tea.

It’s nothing at all like tea. It’s more like you want a nice cup of tea, but the only thing available to drink is vodka. So you drink the vodka, expecting to feel fire as it washes over your palate and burns its way to your stomach…

But instead it’s good. It’s very good.

I entered my reading of Singularity expecting horror. And horror was delivered, make no mistake. But this is not the stuff of scary movies. This type of horror is…real. It’s mental. It’s emotional. It’s raw. Suffice to say that many of our personal terrors come from within. That, perhaps, is true for both characters and reader in this book.

I would call Singularity intelligently horrific. Hann-Basquiat (and the rest of her contributors) makes such clever use of names, of words, of connections. The book is peppered with references to the Bible, literature, pop culture, mythology… I found the words “oh, clever…very clever” whispered aloud several times as I read.  Singularity is indeed clever. It is engaging and complex.

There are some scenes that are decidedly intense and for mature audiences only. I am not a fan of gratuitous sex or violence in my literature. I do recognize and appreciate, however, when setting and character demands prevail. The scenes in this book fit the subject matter, the character, and the story appropriately. My reader’s caveat: consume this book knowingly to avoid surprise emotional triggers in this regard.

For some readers, the disjointed unravelling of the narrative may prove to be frustrating. The unfolding actually reminded me a bit of that Christopher Nolan movie, Memento. Hann-Basquiat feeds you precisely what you need to know when you need to know it. Give in. Submit to the telling and let it surround you piece by piece until it completely envelops you. In the end, it will make perfectly irrational sense. And the end will leave you thinking for days… Fascinating.

I often shy from anything suggestive of horror, the supernatural, even the dark psychological. I don’t read such things alone or in the dark (although I suspect that would greatly enhance the experience for the bold reader). The web of tales Hann-Basquiat and her co-conspirators weave is intricate and enticing. I found myself wanting to read straight through, but unable to do so. It’s that terrifying. It’s that good.

Singularity surpasses a simple label of horror or psycho-thriller. It blends these with a good measure of metafiction and postmodernism. It will leave you questioning everything you believe about what it means to be real. Think you won’t enjoy something of this ilk? Don’t be so sure. Take a sip. You’ll be delightfully surprised to find it deliciously smooth, just like a good quality vodka.

I received an advance copy of Singularity in exchange for an honest review.