Into this adventure we are given the who, what, when, where, and why of how the world we know changed forever. Yes, this is a post apocalyptic novel; one minus global flooding, where there is no radioactive fallout, a world untouched by a bio-engineered gas bomb, no zombies walk among the living, none of the usual tropes associated with an end-of-the-world novel - this novel is something different altogether.
Through a nameless narrator we are given first-hand knowledge into how a very ordinary boy had his life changed when he was introduced to one Gonzo Lubitsch. Through a very rambling recounting we witness the development of Gonzo and our unknown narrator, Gonzo's best friend, and how the pair seem inexorably entwined, even dependant upon the other. From childhood to adulthood we bear witness to how our protagonist is led down a cunningly plotted life path, one seemingly predestined for him specifically, and how in turn it and he is removed from all that he has ever known or loved.
In mankind's ever perverted need to create the ultimate deterrent to warfare we create the "Go Away Bomb". Sounds rather simple, doesn't it? It is most decidedly not so. This weapon is unleashed on a world totally unprepared for it; it is in a fictional Asian country that his weapon is first deployed, and it is also the beginning of the end for all. This weapon leaves no bodies, it just leaves a gouge on the landscape. Those that witness its clinical extirpation of all life in turn are also tainted by its aftermath. It is then that hell is unleashed on a world unprepared for its shockwaves.
The shockwaves that follow is a mixed blessings of salvation and damnation, and this is where the crux of the novel lies. A construction known as the Jorgmund Pipe circles the earth, and it is on fire. This pipe is what keeps the "real" world from being tampered with by the after effects of the "Gone-Away World". Our narrator and a motley crew of ex soldiers now working in hazardous material cleanup have been contracted to put out the blaze. Think of it as a save the world and be back in time for tea contract. But, the actual pipe and how the fire started is only one piece in a shattered mosaic of plot to slowly seep into a reader's brain via flashbacks and full blown chapters. It is newly established, protecting humanity, but it exacts a price very few are privy to. This too is a stroke of genius in the novel, all loose ends with the plot are deliberately attenuated but neatly tied up as the novel draws to a most unusual ending while being kept coherently believable.
It really is impossible to sum up this book in a manner which conveys the originality and brilliance that this mix of speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction, horror, mainline fiction, and global sabotage this read yields. The characterisations are so larger than life that in the hands of an inferior author I believe they would have been better suited to a Terry Pratchett novel; however, here they set the stage for a storyline so crammed full of too fantastic to be truly believed ongoing's that this reader just couldn't help but be thoroughly engaged. Over the top but executed so damn well that I wish I could write a novel like this. Wow! What a read.
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