Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

 

Hicks McTaggert changes himself to fit the prevailing environment.  In this case, that means Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1932.  McTaggert made his name by being a strike-breaker and all around hired muscle.  With Capone in prison and no strikes around, he changes his motif to become a private eye, although he is not happy that the boss gets most of his fees.  Now McTaggert is investigating marital issues and with the repeal of Prohibition right around the corner, there's plenty of partying and adultery to be investigated.

Hicks is given what should be a routine investigation.  A rich man, ruler of a cheese empire, has a wayward daughter and he wants her found and brought home.  McTaggert is ambivalent about the assignment as he has a past history of his own with the woman but his boss is determined.  But before McTaggert can get going on the case, he is shanghied and put down in Hungary, last known location of he cheese heiress.

Hungary is not like anywhere Hicks has seen.  There is plenty of architecture and pastry and music.  Unfortunately, there are also Nazis, working to become the majority and spewing their hatred.  Can Hicks find the heiress?  Avoid the Nazis?  Find the submarine that he sights from time to time and suspects holds one of his old buddies?

Thomas Pynchon is an American author known for his difficult titles that explore American culture with interesting characters.  Prize-winning books include The Crying of Lot 49, V, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason and Dixon and Vineland.  This is his first novel in a decade and even at age eighty-eight, a new Pynchon novel is a literary signpost.  Hicks McTaggert is a likeable character who seems to be bumbling around but always ends up where he should be.  The surrounding characters are all defined enough to be interesting to read about without taking over the story.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.