“S.” by J.J. Abrams & Doug Dorst – 9⭐

While Abrams is most known for his action movies and that TV show that went nowhere but we enjoyed the ride, about 10 years ago he came out with this mystery novel that works in the same mysterious ways. It’s a book within a book within a book and it’s a fantastic rabbit hole to dive in.

S. is just a slip-cover for “The Ship of Theseus”, designed as a “stolen” hard-cover library book, fortunately in pristine condition. The author of the book, V.M. Straka, is an infamous but reclusive writer whose real identity is unknown. Below many of the pages there are footnotes from the equally mysterious translator which act as clues to the identity of the author, and on most pages there are pencil and ink annotations from two readers, Jen and Eric, as they pass the book back and forth, discussing it. Oh, and there’s a lot of paraphernalia left by these two within the pages – telegrams, letters, postcards, napkins and so on.

You can read the “original 1949 book” and then its annotations and see how far down you can get with this puzzle. If you choose to get lost in this mystery don’t forget to take notes and also take your time. It’s fun, detailed and engrossing. I haven’t found the solution yet but apparently it is out there. To find it you might need some help, because the book also acts a bit like an ARG, as there are alternate endings and easter eggs found online which go hand in hand with the book. I won’t say more to to not give spoilers, but everything adds to the puzzle.

While the book might not be up there with Proust and Joyce, the mystery is one of a kind, inspired by real ones such as the Shakespeare authorship question and the controversy over the identity of B. Traven (Wikipedia). If nothing else, this is definitely one of my favourite physical books, it’s one of the best looking ones in my library and it just screams to pick it up and rifle through the pages time and time again.

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