Bullettime

Think Run Lola Run by way of the Columbine massacre. . . . A noir steeped in teenage misery and revenge by the author of Sensation and Sabbath (Backlisted). Every day, Dave Holbrook runs the gauntlet of high school in northern New Jersey, complete with racial tensions, bullying, and outright violence. His home life isnt so great either. His mothers an alcoholic and his father cant be bothered. So Dave subsists on over-the-counter cough syrup and his love for her . . . Shes a transfer student, a waitress, a goddess of discord named Eris. And she offers Dave a way out of his miserable existenceand into an infinite number of tragically short lives. In one, he dies of bronchitis as a baby. In another, he has a job installing lottery machines until a fatal car wreck. And in the darkest one of all, he arms himself with an Uzi and walks into his school. No matter what happens, it seems, Dave is trapped on a never-ending ride of infinite possibilitieswith Eris at the wheel. Nick Mamatass work is often so relevant and timely as to border on the prophetic, and his fourth solo novel is no exception. It may also be his most accessible book to date, which is all the more impressive when you consider its non-linear, unique structure, and the Gus Van Sant-sized elephant in the classroomBullettime centers around a miserable teenager shooting up his high school. Strange Horizons Complex, ambitious . . . Readers willing to venture off the beaten path will be intrigued by Daves sometimes pathetic and sometimes oddly endearing life stories. Publishers Weekly Mamatass strong voice shines. SF Signal