J. Byron Lasko's Beauty of Souls is a novel of the best sort. It is a book that entertains, mostly through snappy dialogue and characters who spring to life on the page. But more than that, it is a book that makes you think. Unless you are the most hardened nihilist, the most narrow of realists, this book will make you consider metaphysical and spiritual possibilities you never imagined before.

The story is narrated by Jim Armond, the glib owner of a small ad agency in New York. Jim's defense against the world, and as a cushion for his past, is humor. He just can't resist cracking a joke, no matter how dire the circumstances. And when you find out just how dysfunctional, how absolutely horrid his family was, you'll wonder that he's not Robin Williams on a speed binge. Discounting violence, Jim's family makes the Mansons look like "The Brady Bunch."The book opens, and indeed mostly takes place in, a bar owned by Jim's best friend, Louie. Louie has tenuous connections to the mob, and he peppers his conversation with references to "The Godfather," a movie he seems to know by heart. He is tough and gritty, but in an old-pal-from-the-neighborhood kind of way. He's honest and true to his friends, as is Jim, and it is Louie's difficulty paying off a debt to a mobster named Nicky Tuna that provides the catalyst for the story.

Jim's life, too, teeters on the verge of failure. Both his marriage and his business are on the rocks, and while these seem like cliches, Lasko is able to make them appear both fresh and genuine. In fact, through deft characterization, he manages to take another story involving a neighborhood in New York and turn it into something original. And, he manages to combine two elements that make this a uniquely unconventional story. One night, after a few too many Dewar's on the rocks, Jim meets a stranger named Jack. It's not giving away too much to say that Jack is a manifestation of Jim's higher self, a part of his consciousness connected to the greater consciousness of the universe, and thus to God. Stories of this sort generally take place in Nepal or a far province of China, but Lasko plops it down in a New York neighborhood of working stiffs and people just trying to get by. And he makes it work.

This, however, is only the beginning, for Jim meets another manifestation of a different part of his consciousness, and this one is female. And, in one mind-blowing scene, Jim actually jams with Jesus Christ himself, who likes to play jazz piano and wants people to call him "Josh."
This may all sound a bit out there, but believe me, when you read it you'll think it really happened.

And maybe it did. On his website, Lasko says, "... the psychic, spiritual and personal experiences I write about in Beauty of Souls are all real." He's known people "... who are highly evolved both spiritually and intellectually and who live and work right in our midst." I don't know about others, but I find it comforting to know that some people might represent a link to a different plane of existence. This reality of mortgages and pain and bars and coworkers can't be all that there is.

Anyway, Jim is forced into action -- or is he? He stands by his friend, Louie, and in doing so meets Angelina Parish, who just might literally be his soul mate. Complications arise and a deadline looms, with dire consequences if Nick Tuna doesn't get his money.

Thankfully, there are no outlandish car chases, no unrealistic shootouts where a waitress suddenly knows how to use a semi-automatic weapon. There is, however, a final showdown. I won't give anything away.

The Midwest Book Review