DefaultName

It's by Tom Wolfe.

John Smith was a scream. Will there be a series? Least interesting--the police stuff was pretty dull and drawn out.

Not too much to choose from.

Giselaine's family and lineage.

An adeptly narrated multicultural fairytale and police procedural, written it feels on scraps torn from Wolfe’s breathless, young alter ego’s notepad. Each chapter opens with a tango, rap, salsa, balalaika fanfare, etc. I give it an "advanced" PG-13 (occasional attempts at hardcore as seen through the eyes of its innocents and always accompanied by an anti-porn or abstinence message) and a “no irony” warning for the adults.

An icy narrative lacking the intimacy and high drama of prior yarns. Even the caddish Frank Lloyd Wright ("The Women") exacts more compassion than anyone in this book (except Anise's mother, who disappears). Never completely sold on the science or ethics, which come across muddled. Anthony Heald surely shines, but would have preferred the author himself reading it with less fanfare. Doesn't come close to "The Tortilla Curtain," which put the reader, not wild hogs, in the crosshairs. Does offer the usual, brilliant, unparalleled descriptions and narration one expects from T. C. Boyle, making it worth the effort; but, alas, a rimshot compared to his previous masterworks of moral reckoning.

The John Nash "Prisoner's Dilemma" allusion/silent witness (and its disastrous repercussions) is powerfully constructed. The dungeon episode classic Connelly. The Haller-Bosch interaction no bromance. Haller's turn as prosecutor no walk in the sun either. What is there not to flip over? Well, maybe Peter Giles.

I thought it was brilliant and pitch-perfect. But I guess I'm in the minority. Think Martin Cruz Smith's parade of Muscovites, not on vodka, but blue cheer.