Well, here's the most purely entertaining book I've read in ages. I sometimes dare the crazier ends of the pulp spectrum hoping for something like this sustained sense of weirdness and mystery, but most examples end up breaking the spell: something obvious, something stupid, something that just feels like bad writing or plotting. This obvious has to do with my weird sensibilities as much as anything, but this somehow seems to speak to my desires pretty directly, while avoiding any mood-breaking pitfalls. Granted, that's always easier in the first part of a longer 3-part story, so there was no need, yet, to over-resolve the story, but even imagining that the story ends right here, this is great. Storywise, it's probably best to just dive in and discover it, though the (well-chosen) reference points will become obvious enough before long.