Overview

• Penguin Press published Shadow Ticket on October 7, 2025, marking Pynchon’s first novel in 12 years.
• At just over 300 pages, it is his shortest since The Crying of Lot 49 and sits alongside his more accessible later works.
• The story opens in 1932 Milwaukee, where private investigator Hicks McTaggart is hired to find Daphne Airmont, the so‑called Cheese Princess.
• Reviews highlight trademark Pynchon hallmarks, including madcap plotting, eccentric names, musical interludes, and comic set pieces like an International Cheese Syndicate and a riff on cheese consciousness.
• Early assessments cast it as a lighter, mid‑tier entry that still lands as a major literary event and possibly the author’s final hurrah.