HaiLOS by David Perozo

The premise for David Perozo’s book is an interesting one. We follow Drew, a lawyer, who is also a would-be entrepreneur, hoping the analyser he has developed is a hit. His invention takes information from urine and offers lifestyle advice and most importantly supplements so that you are, scientifically and biologically, your best self. Testing it on himself, he experiences what could be strange side effects, which raise questions and uncertainties for our protagonist.

A bit of a loner, Drew is our narrator throughout and is engaging as a guide through the properties of his experimental device and his quest to make it more widespread. But can we trust him?

The title of the book reveals the key idea of the book: Drew’s life becomes dominated by haloes and not due to an invasion of God’s own envoys. The haloes appear above the head of everyday people and Perozo shows how Drew deals with this revelation and what it means. Initially, the haloed people he encounters are strangers but as more appear and Drew convinces himself he’s not hallucinating, he becomes more involved with the individuals with these odd manifestations. Where does this lead? Well, that’s for the reader to find out.

There was much to like about this book. Perozo’s prose is accomplished and the narrative flows, has direction and the dialogue is convincing. Drew is likeable, funny and feels like a safe pair of hands. With regard to the writing, there were no times where I was thrown out of the action of the book by continuity or editorial errors: in that, it’s strong. And the book ends positively for the most part with ends tied albeit, in my opinion, a little loosely.

To expand on that, it’s that it felt like there was scope for more. And that was true of the novel as a whole: it’s not that it wasn’t fulfilling but there were times where I was expecting more tension or conflict and the book didn’t present that. That’s not to say that there aren’t tense moments as there are but these are not the drivers of the book.

But there’s lots to recommend it in the dialogue and its fluidity and as a piece of escapism, this is what I would call a solid read. It’s imaginative, well-written, entertaining. Give it a go.

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.