Tetrastatum

Tetrastatum: An Introduction to Psychothotonix, The Discovery of Unknown Universes, Dr Richard and Tim Smith, Epigraph Books, 2019

This novel is about Tim Smith, a researcher at DARPA. He is working on a quantum teleportation system (instant travel to nearly anywhere), but things are not going so well. He is also having a very hard time dealing with the death of his wife and young daughter in a fiery car accident several years previously.

An early morning suicide attempt gets him a one-way trip to a mental hospital. Under electroshock therapy. Tim does his teleporting, but only in his mind. Among the places he visits is Universal Depot, the biggest store in the galaxy. Tim is not there to do grocery shopping. Another place he visits is the planet Atlantis. It is a modern civilization, with nuclear missiles and a 24-hour news channel. It is also in the middle of a rebellion against the tyrannical government.

As things go on, Tim's grip on reality gets more and more flexible. Perhaps he can find a different universe where his family did not get in the car on that fateful day.

This is a very strange story, so it will give the reader quite a mental workout. There is also a lot of very high-level quantum mechanics, so physicists will love this book. The average reader can skip the physics, and stick with the story, which is nice and mind-blowing.