ABSOLUTE CHOICE

When he invents a gateway to metaphysical alternative universes, a scientist discovers romance, cosmic danger, and a chance to rewrite history for truth and justice.

Former professor Arthur “Art” Goldstein has been crestfallen ever since his wife and son fell victim to a next-door neighbor (and vicious serial killer)—a landscaper whose lawyers got him off the hook. Art is working in his lab on an “anti-gravity propulsion” unit when he materializes a sort of floating cylinder. Once enlarged to accommodate a person, it is a doorway to and from “Eternal Reality,” an alternate dimension in which Art moves unseen throughout the world and, using time travel and meditation, orchestrates changes on a God-like (or angelic) level. Moreover, if he takes his invention inside that dimension and passes through it, he attains access to further invisible realms. During these experiments, Art’s family grief and loneliness bring into being a little daughter he actually never had, named Kanna. Meanwhile, he recruits—and falls in love with—Gem Davidson, a divorced fellow scientist who becomes his partner in more ways than one, as the couple brings that pesky serial killer to justice. The two also learn (thanks to an Obi-Wan-type mentor and visitor from beyond named Methuselah) that underneath further layers of reality, entire menageries of Book of Revelation creatures, aliens, and banished spiritual beings coexist with humanity, preying on Earthlings in the manner of the robots in The Matrix. The genesis of an Infinity Trilogy, this faith-based, sci-fi fantasy displays ambitions very nearly the size of C.S. Lewis’ theological time-space adventures. And Ingersoll (Patti Cake, 2016) injects a surprising late development involving a main character into the plot. But the elaborate tale also delivers clunky, vernacular prose; a lumpy pace; and characters who tend to be one-dimensional (even while moving through multiple dimensions). At the end of the novel, all hell breaks loose, literally, pointing sequel-ward. At least the demonic landscaper dilemma is resolved. Or as weak cop-talk dialogue puts it: “This is one serial killer who will never kill again.”   

A Christian-leaning, trippy sci-fi tale about multidimensional travel.