The Cipher

by Kathe Koja

356 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 1991 by Dell.

Nicholas is a would-be poet and video-store clerk with a weeping hole in his hand - weeping not blood, but a plasma of tears...

It began with Nakota and her crooked grin. She had to see the dark hole in the storage room down the hall. She had to make love to Nicholas beside it, and stare into its secretive, promising depths. Then Nakota began her experiments: First, she put an insect into the hole. Then a mouse...

Now from down the hall, the black hole calls out to Nicholas every day and every night. And he will go to it. Because it has already seared his flesh, infected his soul, and started him on a journey of obsession - through its soothing, blank darkness into the blinding core of terror...

1 edition

bgainor reviewed The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Compelling and puzzling

4 stars

I don't normally like horror, especially body horror, and there was plenty of it in this. However, the mystery kept me coming back. I wanted to know more about the Funhole. Ultimately there was a lot I still didn't know, so I don't know how satisfying it was, but it was still a good read. Worth noting that the ebook version was really riddled with typos, but it kind of worked with the gradual unraveling of the protagonist's mental state.

rufzerg666 reviewed The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Review of 'Cipher, The' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Review of Kathe Koja's 'Cipher' (1991)

It's kinda like Poppy Z. Brite without the homosexuality and is set not somewhere south with the swamps and the warm nights, but in the seamy seedy side of some cold noisy city. The novel is a story about a hole and the weird connection the protagonist has towards that hole. The atmosphere is deep, dark and heavy. The main character's girlfriend is not boring to say the least. Imagine Marla in Fight Club, only much more heartless and cold. Would probably kill you to ease her boredom. The prose is poetic.

Friends come over to look and experience the hole. Maybe start a cult?

I am still in the middle of reading it, like smack center of the book. Not that long of a novel. Definitely worth your time.

Also reminds me of Danielewski's House of Leaves.