The Bottom Line: Fans of quirky, dark mysteries will find a lot to love in Adam Hoss’ Infinity Point.
Infinity Point opens with the macabre discovery of a cave full of charred bones and bodies beneath Manhattan. That bold and visceral beginning is a sign of things to come for the rest of the book, which slingshots the reader from bizarre back alley to far-off Icelandic locales and the actual Infinity Point.
Readers will follow Nikole Fink, a washed-up child star addicted to Xanax and attention as she tries to figure out whether or not her mother is among the burned corpses under New York City. She enlists her sister to investigate and the two find themselves jetting across the globe to discover family secrets, organized crime, and a few detours that lead to comic relief more often than actual clues.
At times, Infinity Point veers into the bizarre and esoteric. Readers won’t find a more motley crew than in Hoss’ cast of characters. What may seem like a rag-tag band of castoffs from ideas too wild to actually bring together becomes a rollicking and raucous spin on the usual mystery tropes.
Fans of traditional mysteries may find it too far-fetched, especially when Hitler impersonators and physics-defying magicians enter the scene, but readers open to something new and different are sure to smile with every page turn. Hoss’ writing lends itself to the story’s strange twists, handling the geographic jumps and tonal shifts with ease. The rollicking journey has quiet moments, too, offering a much-needed respite when the entire thing starts to overwhelm. Overall, however, the book simply works. Among a sea of typical mysteries, Infinity Point positions itself as a unicorn.
