Tropic of Night - Hardcover

Gruber, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060509546 ISBN 13: 9780060509545

Publisher: William Morrow, 2003

Synopsis

Not since The Secret History has a novel so flawlessly married the ferocious intensity of an unforgettable thriller with the depth, daring, and nuance of our most celebrated literary fiction. Tropic of Night is a virtuoso performance -- an unforgettably accomplished novel, a masterpiece of electricity and ambition.

Jane Doe was a promising anthropologist, an expert on shamanism. Now she's nothing, a shadow: after faking her own suicide, she's living under an assumed identity in Miami with a little girl to protect. Everyone thinks she's dead. Or so she hopes.

Then the killings start, a series of ritualistic murders that terrifies all of Miami. The investigator is Jimmy Paz, a Cuban-American police detective. There are witnesses, but they can recall almost nothing of the events, as though their memories have been erased -- as if a spell has been cast on each of them. Equally bizarre is the string of clues Paz uncovers: a divination charm, exotic drugs found in the bodies of the victims, a century-old report telling of a secret place in the heart of Africa.

These clues point Paz inexorably toward the fugitive, Jane Doe, and force Jane to realize that the darkness she has fled is seeking her out, hunting her down. By the time her path intersects with Jimmy Paz's, the two will be thrust into a cataclysmic battle between good and an evil unimaginable to the Western mind.

About this title

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Michael Gruber is the author of five acclaimed novels. He lives in Seattle.

Reviews

Gruber's intricate thriller ignites in the very first chapter as anthropologist heroine Jane Doe employs the theories of Claude Levi-Strauss, quotes W. H. Auden, kills a drunken woman using advanced aikido techniques and rescues an abused child whom she raises as her own. The story moves seamlessly between Miami, Long Island and West Africa. Jane Doe's husband, DeWitt Moore, an African-American poet and playwright, accompanies Jane to Nigeria, where she visits the Olo, a tribe of spiritual practitioners. There he falls under the influence of a malevolent witch and becomes a sorcerer. Fearing that her husband will try to kill her, Jane fakes suicide and flees to Miami. Moore, intent on wreaking vengeance on white America, follows and begins murdering pregnant women and stealing their unborn babies for use in a rite that will give him unstoppable powers. Investigating the murders is Cuban exile Iago "Jimmy" Paz and his Bible-spouting partner, Cletis Barlow. As Moore terrorizes Miami, Jane bows to the inevitable, comes out of hiding and gathers a tiny band of courageous accomplices to battle her ex-husband and his shuffling band of the undead. First-time novelist Gruber keeps his far-flung locations, complicated characters and anthropological information perfectly balanced in this finely crafted, intelligent and original work. While readying herself for battle, Jane's commentary on cleaning her rare Mauser pistol could read equally well as a description of Gruber's meticulous plotting: "Each part pops free with a precisely directed pressure and snaps in with a satisfying click, just where it belongs." How readers categorize this book will depend on their acceptance or rejection of Gruber's underlying thesis: "The point is, there's no supernatural. It's all part of the universe, although the universe is queerer than we suppose."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A woman who calls herself Jane Doe hides out in Miami, where Detective Jimmy Paz tracks a serial killer witnesses say looks like Detective Jimmy Paz.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This first novel is being launched with a considerable amount of publisher hype. So, of course, reviewers' first question is, Does the book live up to all the publicity fuss? In this case, the answer is an unhesitating yes. This intelligent thriller builds tension from the first page. The protagonist, who bears the real but unlikely name of Jane Doe, is living in Miami under an assumed name because she's on the run--from Africa, where, with her husband, she had been doing anthropological research. Something happened over there that she could not have foreseen and did not bargain for. When Jane learns of the ritualistic murder of a pregnant woman in Miami's Overtown neighborhood, her heart skips a beat. Is the horror she hoped she left behind in Africa tracking her here to Florida? Gruber's understanding of African witchcraft stands fully behind an exciting narrative populated by distinctly drawn characters such as Jane, who is also haunted by the awful murder of her sister and now finds herself confronting a shaman up to his bloody elbows in ritual murder. This book has movie potential written all over it, which is no criticism of its depth--simply a compliment to its strong and colorful story line. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060509546
• ISBN 13: 9780060509545
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432