Thomas Pynchon returns after twelve years with a mock detective novel

Le Monde des livres' Thursday selection this week leads with "Mission de l'ombre," a new novel by Thomas Pynchon, according to Le Monde. The paper describes it as a "vrai-faux polar" — a mock detective story — featuring a character nicknamed the "Al Capone du fromage."

The book marks Pynchon's return after twelve years without a new novel, according to France Culture, which calls it his ninth. The radio program asks why a new Pynchon novel remains a literary event in itself, noting that the author, now 89, has never revealed his identity publicly and is known almost entirely through his books.

Télérama devotes a profile to Pynchon on the occasion of the release, describing him as a writer who chose secrecy: the only photographs available date from his youth, and across barely ten novels he has built a portrait of an America afflicted by what the magazine calls an original vice. The profile frames "Mission de l'ombre" as the latest chapter in that dense body of work.

Le Monde's selection also includes "Je change de nom" and "Esclaves à Paris," though the available material does not detail either title beyond their mention in the weekly roundup.