Thomas Pynchon is set to release his first novel in over a decade, according to publisher Penguin Random House (PRH).
Titled "Shadow Ticket," the book will be Pynchon's 10th release and is slated for an October debut. Like his previous works "Inherent Vice" (2009) and "Bleeding Edge" (2013), the new novel is a noir story centered around a private detective.
"Shadow Ticket," set in Milwaukee during the Great Depression, centers on detective Hicks McTaggart, who is hired to track down the heir to a cheese fortune. His investigation takes him to Hungary, where he is caught up with Nazis, Soviet agents, British spies, swing musicians, paranormal experts, and outlaw motorcyclists.
"Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can't see his way around in or out of, 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," reads a description of the upcoming novel on PRH's website. "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."
The 87-year-old author is widely recognized for his 1973 novel "Gravity's Rainbow," hailed by some critics as the greatest postwar American novel, The Guardian reported. Throughout his career, Pynchon has tackled a wide range of themes, from music to mathematics, frequently delving into conspiracy theories and paranoia.
Since his postmodern debut "V" became a bestseller in 1963, Pynchon has largely avoided the spotlight, going so far as to cover his windows with black sheets, writing through the night and sleeping during the day. After a camera crew filmed him in Manhattan in 1997, he called CNN to voice his protest, stating, "Let me be unambiguous. I prefer not to be photographed," he said.
Pynchon's reclusiveness has long frustrated scholars and journalists, but it has only increased his literary mystique, as The New York Times noted. In 2022, he surprised many by selling his archive to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, which included research notes, drafts and publishing correspondence but no personal letters or photos.