Thomas Pynchon

Shadow Ticket Thomas Pynchon

Milwaukee, 1932. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent on what should be a routine case: locating the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune. Before he knows it, he finds himself on a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and of course no sign of the runaway. By the time Hicks catches up with her he is also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.