JOHNNY TALON AND THE GODDESS OF LOVE AND WAR

In Williams’ contemporary fantasy novel, a private eye investigates tangible facts and his own subconscious in order to work a case of theft, demons, and dreamlike landscapes.

Johnny Talon’s latest client seems like any other: Eve wants to recover the goods that her ex ran off with. The San Francisco–based “surreal detective” follows reality-based leads as adeptly as those he sees in dreams. But Eve’s case is bizarre, even by Johnny’s standards. His car, for starters, begins changing to an entirely different model every time he drives it, much like Eve’s ever changing (or altogether disappearing) outfits. While the P.I. rightly guesses that Eve is lying about some things, that doesn’t quite prepare him for what he finds, including dead bodies, hostile demons, and possibly a portal to Hell. Johnny takes cues from his peculiar dreams and coolly handles such outlandish developments as traveling through time and space without warning. Retrieving the pilfered items leads to the much more dangerous tasks of vanquishing monsters and setting a soul free. Williams’ tale is, by design, a mishmash of oddities. It doesn’t always make sense; even Johnny is surprised when he suddenly finds himself in medieval attire, armed with a demon-slaying “magical sword.” Much of the surreality involves sex and drugs. The author summons memorable imagery ranging from the Lovecraftian (“Eve grabbed my arm as an immense many-legged creature scampered past us to climb up the green stone road”) to the more whimsically Carrollian (a hookah-smoking butterfly passes a talking walrus playing cards). There’s a clear mystery as well, with Johnny and Eve hunting for a particular item (against a deadline) and dealing with a villainous mastermind. Amazingly, the ultimate explanation for all that’s going on in this baffling plot resolves most, if not all, of the questions the story stirs up in a satisfying fashion.

This robust fusion of mystery and the otherworldly revels in bewilderment and kookiness.