Although
Tom Holt has generally been pigeon-holed as a humor writer, like Terry
Pratchett, from early in his career he has taken breaks from writing
about the early exploits of mythical beings, to focus on historical
fiction, such as The Walled
Orchard or A Song for Nero.
More recently, Holt has written more straightforward science fiction
novels hidden behind titles which seem indicative of his humorous
writing. The most recent of these is Doughnut,
the story of Theo Bernstein trying to piece his life back together after
he caused the destruction of a major scientific facility.
Opening
with hints of comedy and the destruction of the Very, Very Large Hadron
Collider (VVLHC), Theo quickly finds himself without a job, without
money, without friends, and with an ex-wife. He manages to find a job
for himself at a slaughter house. The only positive thing in his life
occurs when he gets word that his former grad school advisor, Pieter van
Goyen, has died and named him sole heir to the confusing contents of a
safety deposit box. This also leads him to a job in a hotel that isn’t
a hotel, discoveries of family secrets he never knew, and the
exploration of parallel worlds that ranged from an androphobic 100 acre
woods to a Venice in the sky. In
an apparent inability to break away from the humor of his previous
novels, Holt provides Theo with an easy escape from these worlds, he
simply must look through the hole of any doughnut available at any
doughnut stand.
The
setup seems rife for comedic possibilities but Holt grounds his story in
mathematical theory and hypotheses of multiple worlds resulting in a
novel which veers away from the comedic at every possible chance.
Instead, Holt dips his toe into the philosophy of discovery and
scientific method. At times Theo’s explorations are reminiscent of
Larry Niven’s short story “All the Myriad Ways” but shies away
from the defeatism of that work.
Peter’s
colleagues at the hotel, where Theo finds himself working, clearly have
secrets they are trying to keep from Theo even as they are trying to
guide him to their inexplicable goals.
Theo’s frustration at the lack of information forthcoming from
Peter’s friends at the hotel and the realization that his estranged
sister and dead brother are somehow involved in the catastrophe that is
now his life, pushes Theo to try to figure out what’s happening even
as he doesn’t want to assist the people around him.
Unfortunately as Theo
gets closer to his goal of finding out what’s happening, the reader
begins to question the relevance of his discoveries, leading to a novel
which is ultimately about the fundamental questions of the universe in a
way that doesn’t make it seem important. Instead of earthshaking
discoveries the outcome of Theo’s research nearly seems like a petty
family squabble, and makes the reader want to reach for a doughnut.
