BOOK REVIEW: THE BOOK OF THE MOST PRECIOUS SUBSTANCE BY SARA GRAN

26/8/2022

This novel sucked me into its seductive thrall with considerable ease and I sped through it over a couple of days and watch out for the superb ending!

The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09VJVFL72
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber & Faber (30 Aug. 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 332 pages

A Book Review by Tony Jones

Bodily fluids and a rare occult book produce an intoxicating supernatural thriller

Considering Sara Gran’s first book was published back in 2001 and her latest The Book of the Most Precious Substance is only her seventh, nobody could accuse her of rushing her art! Her work is impressively varied, encompassing literary, detective and the very occasional toe-step into psychological horror with the superb Come Closer (2003). Gran’s sole foray into horror was more than enough reason to jump at the chance of reviewing The Book of the Most Precious Substance, with that earlier work concerning a woman who receives the wrong book in the mail which leads her into a gripping tale of possession, insanity, frustrated desire and the places where your deepest darkest fears lurk.

Fans of Come Closer should be purring with The Book of the Most Precious Substance as it has some vague similarities to its predecessor, in that it also involves a frustrated central character and more significantly, another very dodgy book. First up, I love books about books and the protagonist of Precious Substance is a serious collector, who buys and sells rare tomes to make a living. Often purchasing for $2 and selling for $20 or by having stalls at collector fairs, often specialising in obscure non-fiction subjects and I was not surprised to uncover that Sara Gran has some expertise in this subject as her love and interest shone through. If you ever thought the world of antiquarian bookselling was boring and stuffy then this tale will make you think again and is vividly brought to life. There are lots of great ‘books about books’ on the market and whilst there were plenty of rarities on offer in Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind, none held a candle to Precious Substance and the hunt for perhaps the rarest (and definitely the sleaziest) book in existence! If Abe Books had been around 200 years ago I guarantee even the Marquis de Sade himself would have been trying to locate a copy!

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is not a traditional horror novel which dances around the supernatural and is better described as literary fiction, with erotic overtones. It is not blood and guts in your face horror and moves at its own delicately slow pace, but the 330+ pages are compelling and never boring. Obsession oozes from the page as very sensible bookseller Lily Albrecht is slowly but surely taken on an intriguing dark journey in search for a book which may (or may not) exist and along the way uncovers a few things about herself, as does the reader. Written with a first-person and very sly narrative, follow what Lily reveals very closely as she might well be selective in her version of the story she spins.

The action opens with Lily at a book fair where another dealer asks her whether she could help him track down a 17th century manual on sex magic, rumoured to be the most powerful occult book ever written (if it really exists at all). The dealer has a buyer willing to pay over a million Dollars for the text and if she helps locate a copy will get a cut of the transaction, however, that same night the other dealer is killed in a random street robbery. Now with the scent of money in her nostrils Lily, with the help of a suave librarian book collector begins to search, but the problem is made more complex by the fact that she does not even know who the potential rich buyer is. But Lily is a very resourceful lady.

From those early moments the hunt is on, Lily is obsessed with the book even before she even truly knows it is real and the journey to find it takes Lily and her librarian friend across the globe. The pair’s international hunt for the grimoire was a fun journey, but the tension was killed ever so slightly by the fact that they stayed in the poshest hotels and ate in the best restaurants, rarely have I read a book with so many food scenes! However, the nuanced central character and her gradual change was well worth the admission charge with the odd sorts they met along the way adding to the intrigue. When we meet her, Lily's living a reclusive life without much joy or pleasure, focused on her business, bitter memories and complex relationships. That is until the book enters her life.

Sex and the rediscovery of pleasure are crucial to Lily coming back to life as the occult powers of the book are awakened through X-rated rituals involving consensual sex and bodily fluids which get more extreme the further the participants get into the text. The grimoire did include a fair bit of explicit sex which might turn a few heads, but it was not over the top or pornographic and from the female point of view. The occult/fantastical elements of the story are kept nicely vague and featured some clever touches, such as the fact the book did not like to be copied, photographed or even have passages committed to memory. Along the way Sara Gran builds a convincing picture of the types of eccentric uber-rich bampots who try to buy or experiment with the book taking in references to both the ‘Great Beast’ himself Aleister Crowley (who was into sex magic) and even a French dominatrix.

For some readers the hunt for the book might get slightly repetitive as it remains elusive for just a few pages too long, but I felt it was worth the wait as its descriptions positively crackled with the book being slightly worse for wear with dried up bodily fluids! If the search went on too long the change in Lily from a woman who had given up on sex to something very different was a stark contrast.

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is an addictive erotic supernatural thriller about the lengths we'll go to get the power we need and what we want, even if it involves black magic and kinky sex. Although the supernatural was kept on the backburner the manner in which it was portrayed was very convincing and if the book has you intrigued enough to try Googling ‘sex magic’ then I suggest treading cautiously, or at least choose your partner very carefully! This novel sucked me into its seductive thrall with considerable ease and I sped through it over a couple of days and watch out for the superb ending!

Tony Jones

The Book of the Most Precious Substance
by Sara Gran

Rare book dealer Lily Albrecht has just been given a tip-off about The Book of the Most Precious Substance, a 17th century manual rumoured to be the most powerful occult book ever written, if it really exists at all.

With some of the wealthiest people in the world willing to pay Lily a fortune to track it down, she embarks on a journey from New York to New Orleans to Munich to Paris.

If she finds it, Lily stands to gain more than just money. This could erase the greatest tragedy of her life. But will Lily's quest help her find some answers, or will she lose everything in search of a ghost?