Book Review: I CONTAIN MULTITUDES by Christopher Hawkins

I CONTAIN MULTITUDES by Christopher Hawkins (Coronis Publishing, expected release date April 30, 2025) Paperback, 338 pages. ISBN #97891937346171 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Hunted through an ever-shifting patchwork of worlds, one woman must rediscover her own past to restore reality before it's too late.

Unstuck from reality, Trina Bell never wakes up in the same world twice. Lost and alone, she crosses paths with an old librarian who is the only person who remembers her when everything else changes around them. When an encounter with a sadistic doctor makes Trina question whether she herself might be the cause of the shifting realities that are escalating out of control, she sets out to stop them.

As each successive world becomes more unstable and dangerous than the last—and with the librarian lost and descending into madness—Trina must confront the secrets rooted deep in her own past in order to find a way to repair her world before it collapses for good.

From the award-winning author of Downpour comes a mind-bending multiversal thriller of betrayal, discovery, and the will to reshape destiny.

My Four Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

The back cover text summarizes I CONTAIN MULTITUDES as a "mind-bending multiversal thriller of betrayal, discovery, and the will to reshape destiny."

If that is a mission statement, then consider this mission accomplished. Without writing in the second person, Hawkins managed to make this reader feel that he was the character, just as puzzled and confused as Trina Bell. Neither of us have any idea of how or why the world around her keeps ever-shifting but come to realize that she is at the center of it, and in control if she could only figure out the steps. Wouldn't it be a miraculous thing if one could actually re-shape destiny?

There is no lengthy set-up to this novel. It plunges right into the action, introducing Trina as a woman on the run, from what is uncertain. The only certainty is that at some point she may wake up in different surroundings with only a slight similarity to where she once was. Or, dangerous circumstances may cause a "Turning" to occur in mid-day. Dark, void-like shadows seem to be following her. These Turnings become stranger and wilder as the story moves forward, and Hawkins employs all his highly imaginative skills on the settings. 

Somewhere during the final third of this novel I began to suspect what was occurring and why. It brought back memories of a famous episode from the first iteration of The Twilight Zone television series. I won't detail it because it could serve as a potential spoiler. Remembering that episode, I envisioned a dark ending to I CONTAIN MULTITUDES. Hawkins took things in a different direction, with a satisfying and more upbeat ending.

Thanks to author Christopher Hawkins for an advanced reader's edition, provided without obligation.