This month, we're returning to Pynchon's wacky maximilism for his new detective novel, Shadow Ticket. Our sub-read is a fantasy take on Sherlock Holmes, the Hugo-award winning The Tainted Cup.

Mixed response from NUBClub to this depiction of a deluded and avoidant man in late middle age. We found some interesting ideas in the narrator's blindness to his own condition and the truth about his family, but everyone felt that some of the secondary characters were way too thin and more needed to be done to show just how mistaken the narrator's perspective was.

An interesting experiment in perspective that we felt didn't make a compelling read. Szalay has a clear mission with this work that he is rigorous in pursuing, but we found the plot twists too easy and just felt the book lacked anything really compelling to follow. This was not the best Man Booker nominee this year.