There is only one feeling better than finishing a book – finishing a great book. Next to that is finishing a book before it’s due back at the library. The Zero, while a good story that keeps the reader guessing throughout, belongs in the latter category.

The Zero is a fictional rumination on grief, memory, trust, politics, patriotism, and national tragedy. Written with oblique yet transparent references to the fall of the World Trade Center and the ensuing aftermath, Walter creates a story that may well have been true. Described as Helleresque, this part political satire starts out well, delivering dark laughs in a gray world of dust and tragedy. Unfortunately, yet maybe necessarily, the humor lessens as the plot increases, racing you (against time) towards a tragic end. The narrator is seldom trustworthy, even denying his own point of view. Gaps, zeroes, and negative space repeat themselves throughout the work: 0 x 0 x 0 x 0 = 0. It’s a stark metaphorical reminder of the void created in NYC, what memory does with tragedy, and the seeming meaningless of it all.

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