Conrad Metcalf has problems. He has a monkey on his back, a rabbit in his waiting room, and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. (Maybe evolution therapy is not such a good idea.)
He’s been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent Oakland urologist. Maybe falling in love with her a little at the same time. When the doctor turns up dead, Metcalf finds himself caught in a crossfire between the boys from the inquisitor’s Office and the gangsters in the back room of the Fickle Muse.
Jonathan Lethem’s first novel is a science fiction mystery. It’s funny. It’s not so funny.
“Marries Chandler’s style and Philip K. Dick’s vision…an audaciously assured first novel!” —Newsweek
“Marvelous…a stylish, intelligent, darkly humorous and highly readable entertainment.” —San Francisco Examiner
“Sharp, funny, visionary.” —Jill Eisenstadt, author of Far Rockaway
