About the Book
A darkly comic novel of intrigue, adventure, and the perils of self-invention from the author of The Torqued Man, set in San Francisco and the Asian Pacific during the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1939, just as the clouds of war are gathering, Richard Halifax--boys' adventure writer of manly bravado and the breeziest of prose styles--vanishes in the Pacific. Halifax was attempting to sail a Chinese junk from Hong Kong to San Francisco as part of the World's Fair festivities on Treasure Island. But while his disappearance upends the lives of those left in his wake back home, both his machinations and his letters to his young readers live on.
Hildegard Rauch, an émigré painter and the daughter of Germany's greatest living writer in exile, finds her twin brother in a coma after an attempted suicide. He left a mysterious note that sends her on a search for the truth about her brother's relationship with Richard Halifax and the dangerous secret he entrusted to the writer before his voyage.
Simon Faulk, a British intelligence officer, has been assigned to ferret out Nazi spies in California. He learns of the arrival of a mysterious American agent from across the Pacific, part of a joint German-Japanese operation.
Told in the alternating voices of these three characters, set against the growing threat of another world war and a World's Fair dedicated to peace, World Pacific is a madcap quixotic tale that explores the many forms of shipwreck, exile, betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves in the fight to stay afloat.
About the Author :
Peter Mann is the author of the novel The Torqued Man, named one of The New Yorker's Best Books of 2022 and Best Historical Fiction of the year by CrimeReads. Originally from Kansas City, he is a longtime resident of San Francisco and teaches history and literature at Stanford. He also draws comics on his Substack newsletter The Quixote Syndrome.
Review :
"World Pacific will appeal to readers seeking a sophisticated reading adventure." - Novels Alive
"Set at the beginning of the Second World War, this bracing and erudite novel weaves together three ostensibly unrelated plots. . . . As Mann intertwines these stories, his jaunty sentences combine propulsive humor with international intrigue." - The New Yorker
"An intriguing, darkly comic novel of adventure and personal crisis, set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Pacific on the eve of World War II. Mann crafts a clever fun work of fiction, drawing inspiration from actual historical figures to create a narrative that is as complex as it is captivating." - MSN.com
"A Fantastic, fanciful, and often extremely funny novel . . . [and] wonderfully inventive. . . . Along with being a quixotic tale of adventure complete with truth-telling sidekicks and wild goose chases, World Pacific is, like Mann's first novel, a spy thriller of ingenious quality." - San Francisco Chronicle
"The prospect of reviving a Halliburton-ish character and launching him into a maelstrom of spies, émigrés and double-dealers prove[s] irresistible to Mann, who demonstrate[s] a knack for comic thrillers." - New York Times Book Review
"This fiendishly clever, elegant debut novel... combines a clear-eyed vision of a not-so-distant period of history with canny spy-world touches and astute elements of farcical humor." - Boston Globe on The Torqued Man
"Terrific . . . John le Carré meets Evelyn Waugh . . . . Mann displays an extraordinary comedic gift for outlandish embellishment, and makes hay out of the incompetence and hubris on all sides of the impending war." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Far removed from the staid worlds of most historical fiction, this is a wonderfully comic, gripping, and intriguing novel--like All the Light We Cannot See, but with a wry, macabre humor--following three hugely different, yet brilliantly developed characters." - Booklist
"Start to finish, World Pacific is about our ongoing attempts to re-invent ourselves in order to survive another day. It is part history, part thriller, and part contemporary satire. Peter Mann has filled his new work with everything from a Chinese junk to a penal camp on Saipan, from a famous writer's misappropriated diary to the Anti-Fascist Writers League, from rogue international agents to Sally Bent's Nude Ranch. It is a madcap marvel." - Anniston Star
"Mann brilliantly captures the betrayed ideals of the period of US neutrality as a boys' adventure. . . . . There's a touch of Chandleresque noir thrown in for good measure as well. For anyone willing to suspend disbelief in the vein of a boy storylover, enthralled by a tale of double-crossing and improbable daring and enlivened with Chaucerian ribaldry, this is a rollicking good read." - Historical Novel Society
"At once thrilling and comic, Mann's novel is a rollicking ride." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Writing with intelligence, style, and wit, Peter Mann has created two unforgettable characters and braided them together in a thrilling World War II story unlike any other." - David Ebershoff, New York Times bestselling author of The 19th Wife and The Danish Girl, on The Torqued Man
"I loved The Torqued Man, its riotous irreverence, its coiled suspense. It's a brilliant, surprising novel, Don Quixote by way of le Carré." - Jess Walter, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins and The Cold Millions, on The Torqued Man
"'Vexing' doesn't begin to describe the intricate maneuverings of the two narrators in Peter Mann's quick-witted World War II caper. But 'compelling' certainly does." - New York Times Book Review on The Torqued Man
"As the chapters alternate between the manuscripts, two irreconcilable portraits of Pike emerge, while de Groot's love for the Irishman gradually emboldens him." - The New Yorker on The Torqued Man
"Clever genre elements and felicitous prose? Oh yes; this novel is the elusive cake that you are allowed to both have and eat." - New York Times Magazine on The Torqued Man
"Mann's sometimes graphic, sometimes heartbreaking, always entertaining thriller draws parallels to similar forces pulling against each other in modern life." - Washington Post on The Torqued Man
