Casi never loses a case. The 24-year-old Manhattan public defender bobs and weaves his way through the intricacies and inanities of the New York legal system as nimbly as a lightweight champ, scoring plea bargains and dismissals for a long list of drug offenders, petit larcenists and immigrants selling hotdogs without a license. Despite his talent, Casi's life is far from ideal. At work, he faces circular and surreal discussions with clients and judges as well as the passionate but illogical philosophizing of his coworkers. In his private life, financial debt piles up and he struggles with inexplicable ear pain, while his preschool-aged niece frightens his family by ceasing to speak, and his neighbors begin bizarre psychological experiments involving The Honeymooners.
When a client turns police informant, Casi becomes privy to a $10-million drug deal. His coworker Dane, whose moral compass always points to himself as true north, approaches Casi with a scheme to snatch the dough, but Casi refuses to participate, until he finally loses a case and his entire world begins to unravel.
At nearly 700 pages, A Naked Singularity is no casual read, packed with Socratic dialogues, ruminations on the nature of the time-space continuum and legal satire. Nonetheless, it's a sometimes heartbreaking, always hilarious romp leading up to its ultimate heist. Challenging, addictively entertaining and not to be missed, A Naked Singularity heralds the arrival of a tremendous talent. --Jaclyn Fulwood, graduate assistant, University of Oklahoma Libraries