Thursday, June 16, 2011

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CITY by Jonathan Franzen

Finished Wed 6/15/11

A well written, yet most unusual tale. It is set in St. Louis in the mid 1980's, and tells how the city was infiltrated by a foreign power, India! A new chief of police was installed from Bombay, India, and she and her web of spies and assassins attempt to control the fate of the city. They employ just about every trick in the Terrorist Handbook, and seem very attempt at physiological coercion. S. Jammu, the sexy new chief seems to take fiendish glee in entraping one of St. Louis's most prominent citizens, Martin Probst.

Sections of the novel really do an excellent job capturing the 'feel' of St. Louis, and anyone who is familiar with this city will recognize many of the cities famous, and not so famous points of interest.

However, at times, the plot was so extraordinary, that it seemed out of control. I ended up skimming the last third of the novel, however, I will definitely give Jonathan Franzen a chance with another of his novels.

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