Shadow Ticket

《紐約時報》暢銷書 •《紐約時報》、《華盛頓郵報》與美聯社年度好書 •《洛杉磯時報》、Vulture、TIME、《衛報》、《新共和》及 LitHub 評選為年度最佳圖書

出自《萬有引力之虹》、《拍賣第49號》、《葡萄園》與《固有瑕疵》作者托馬斯·品欽（Thomas Pynchon）的最新小說。

「一部傑作。」——《每日電訊報》

「瘋狂且精彩絕倫的樂趣。」——《華盛頓郵報》

「晚期品瓊最具代表性的巔峰之作。如吸血鬼口袋般黑暗，如珠寶大盜般敏捷， 《Shadow Ticket》以輕快又寬鬆瀟灑的自信姿態躍然紙上——並在沿著防火梯逃脫的途中停下片刻，剛好足以震撼並撕裂你的心房。」——《洛杉磯時報》

1932年的密爾瓦基，大蕭條如火如荼地進行，禁酒令廢除指日可待，阿爾·卡彭（Al Capone）關在聯邦監獄裡，私家偵探的業務也正從勞資糾紛轉向更多家庭事務。希克斯·麥塔格特（Hicks McTaggart）是一名從罷工破壞者轉行的私家偵探，他本以為自己找到了穩定的工作，直到他被派去執行一趟理應十分例行的任務：尋找並帶回一位心血來潮離家出走的威斯康辛起司財閥女繼承人。

在意識到發生了什麼事之前，他就被綁架上了跨洋郵輪，最終落腳在沒有海岸線、語言如同來自外星、糕點多到足夠讓任何警察優渥退休的匈牙利——當然，這裡完全沒有他該追捕的逃婚女繼承人的蹤影。當希克斯終於追上她時，他發現自己同時糾纏於納粹、蘇聯特工、英國反間諜、搖擺樂手、超自然現象實踐者以及非法摩托車黨之中，隨之而來的各種麻煩，沒有一項是希克斯有能力（更別提有領薪水）處理的。被他無法理解、也看不清進出的歷史所包圍，希克斯唯一的亮點是這正值大樂團時代的曙光，而他恰好是個相當不錯的舞者。這是否足以讓他以林迪舞步（Lindy-hop）跳回密爾瓦基和那個可能已不復存在的正常世界，則是另一個問題了。

A New York Times Bestseller • A New York Times, Washington Post, and Associated Press Notable Book • Named a Best Book of the Year by The Los Angeles Times, Vulture, TIME, The Guardian, The New Republic, and LitHub

The new novel from Thomas Pynchon, author of Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland, and Inherent Vice.

“A masterpiece.” —The Telegraph

“Bonkers and brilliant fun.” —The Washington Post

“Late Pynchon at his finest. Dark as a vampire’s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, Shadow Ticket capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance — and then pauses on its way down the fire escape just long enough to crack your heart open.” —The Los Angeles Times

Milwaukee 1932, the Great Depression going full blast, repeal of Prohibition just around the corner, Al Capone in the federal pen, the private investigation business shifting from labor-management relations to the more domestic kind. Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself 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, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with. 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. 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.