After more than 70 pages of absolute drivel of the 1930´s Milwaukee gangland Prohibition slang, with more names than I could keep track of, I was about ready to give up. But then the 86 year old American novelist, sorta, kinda began to make sense with a loose plot that has little to do with the previous nonsense, so I kept going, hoping it would get better. In one way, it did, with a more understandable plot line, but there was still a lot of loose ends and too many characters. The gumshoe Hicks is abducted onto a ship where no one is honest as he tries to bring back the Wisconsin cheeze King’s rebellious daughter.
At the halfway point of this verbose nonsensical novel, I did something I seldom do- I gave up and returned it to the library.
I will not count it as read when I calculate the books I have read this year, but I am rapidly losing faith in the books that many popular reviewers recommend.
Thanks, The New Yorker
The Passionate Reader 