Author Thomas Pynchon will release Shadow Ticket, his first novel in more than ten years, on October 7, 2025.
Thomas Pynchon, the elusive and celebrated American author, is set to make a highly anticipated return to the literary world with Shadow Ticket, his first novel since 2013’s Bleeding Edge. The noir-inspired mystery, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, will be published by Penguin Press in the United States and Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom.
Shadow Ticket follows private investigator Hicks McTaggart as he embarks on a surreal journey to locate the missing heiress of a cheese empire in Milwaukee. The story quickly spirals into an intricate web of intrigue, with McTaggart becoming entangled with Nazis, Soviet spies, British intelligence operatives, swing musicians, and paranormal enthusiasts. The investigation eventually takes him to Hungary, where the line between reality and the supernatural begins to blur.
Described by Penguin Random House as “a tale of espionage, paranoia, and mystery,” the novel features McTaggart navigating a world of shifting allegiances and constant danger. Despite the chaos, McTaggart finds solace in the emerging big band scene, where his skills as a dancer offer a fleeting sense of hope amidst the tumult. As the description reads, “Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question.”
At 87 years old, Pynchon remains one of America’s most enigmatic and influential literary figures. Best known for his 1973 masterpiece Gravity’s Rainbow, often considered one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century, Pynchon’s works have spanned a diverse range of themes, from mathematics and music to conspiracy theories and paranoia. His dense, postmodern style has earned him a dedicated following and critical acclaim.
Pynchon has long maintained a reclusive lifestyle, rarely making public appearances and avoiding the media spotlight. His intense privacy is legendary, with stories of him covering windows with black sheets and working late into the night. In a rare public statement in 1997, he famously called CNN to request that they not photograph him, stating, “Let me be unambiguous—I prefer not to be photographed.”
Shadow Ticket marks Pynchon’s 10th novel and follows in the footsteps of his previous works like Inherent Vice (2009), continuing his exploration of the noir genre. Fans of his work can expect another intricate and surreal narrative when Shadow Ticket arrives in October.
