Water Memory (re)acquaints us with Hertell Daggett Jr. who was once a celebrated physicist. A stray bullet to the head, among other circumstances, left him only qualified to manage Li’l Pal Heaven, a forty acre pet cemetery located above a vast system of lava tubes in Bakersfield, California.

Some readers will recall Hank Devereaux Jr., the main character in Richard Russo’s 1997 novel, Straight Man. Is it a coincidence that these two protagonists are both H.D’s and juniors? Perhaps. Back then, Hank Devereaux shined a cynic’s light on the absurdities of our world, but decades have passed and Hank wouldn’t recognize it…wouldn’t be up to the task of explaining it to us. That is, if he were allowed to, which is questionable given that today’s world has rocketed beyond the boundaries of Russo’s satire. No, for today’s task we need Hertell, who is called upon to save civilization, but not after the apocalypse we’re all counting on.

We experience near-future America through Hertell’s eyes. He’s familiar with the America you and I currently inhabit though he willingly departed it in Strelich’s 2017 debut novel, Dog Logic (bit of a spoiler there). Hertell and his people are resurrected (in a sense) roughly a decade into the future. Our political system has been replaced with an even clumsier, low-res copy. Our lawn mowers have been replaced with robots. And best of all, our collective history has been replaced with, well, nothing.

A rather routine magnetic pole reversal is rapidly eroding humans’ long-term memories. Hertell is exempt from the worldwide reset owing to that traumatic brain injury he suffered decades back. While uniquely qualified to guide humanity through its reset, Hertell isn’t sure he wants the job. Not under the circumstances, which include being a family man, having celebrity thrust upon him, and a congressional subpoena.

With apologies to Arthur C. Clarke, a miracle is just a scientific event we don't understand yet. Strelich artfully winds this theme around Hertell like a cord around a top, then yanks it off and sends him spinning through our silly society, ungracefully but divinely.

Though set in the near-future, Water Memory is suffused with elements that serve to hold up the mirror, showing us how we live in the present. As evidence I humbly submit to you the title of chapter 26: Prosopagnosia. This neurological ailment renders its victims unable to recognize the people they know the best, including themselves.

But please don’t chalk up Strelich’s world as mere satire. Satirical? Yes, you will laugh out loud. Pure satire? No. Water Memory is much richer and purer that that. Strelich has concocted a familiar semi-sci-fi setting with industrious, damaged, absorbing inhabitants who have a dazzling, terrifying gift thrust upon them: The chance to start over. ( )