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Some books are so mammoth in concept that it seems ridiculous to try to review them. That ‘Zeroville,’ the 8th novel from cult author Steve Erickson, released by Europa Editions, accomplishes such gait in 352 pages of short, numbered vignettes, is yet another facet of its brilliance. At its most basic, ‘Zeroville,’ is the story of Vikar Jerome, a detached man with violent tendencies who straggles into Hollywood with a portrait of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor tattooed on his head. Soon he finds himself caught up in a strange puzzle of film and women and punk, trying to unravel an image from a recurring dream that haunts his sleep and waking. Like Pynchon’s ‘Vineland’ or David Foster Wallace’s ‘Infinite Jest,’ Erickson has created a puzzle-box fueled by paranoia, though you’ll spend a lot less sweat trying to reach the end, and when you do you’ll wish you had a way to wipe your brain and start again.

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