City of Glass - (Contemporary American Fiction) by Paul Auster (Paperback)

About the Book

A mystery writer assumes a detective's identity and embarks on a bizzare case: he must protect a man from his criminally insane father, and as he follows the elusive criminal, he embarks on a mission that takes him to the depths of his own soul. Auster's In the Country of Last Things is being published this month by Viking.

Book Synopsis

EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE - In this stunning debut novel, the first volume in Paul Auster's acclaimed The New York Trilogy, an author determined to solve a mystery begins to descend into madness.

"Remarkable . . . The book is a pleasure to read, full of suspense and action. . . . [A] strange and powerful adventure."--The New York Times Book Review

After a strange phone call in the middle of the night, Quinn, an author of detective stories, becomes enmeshed in a case more puzzling than any he might have written. Composed with hallucinatory clarity, City of Glass combines dark humor with Hitchcock-like suspense.

City of Glass inaugurates the intriguing New York Trilogy of novels that The Washington Post Book World has classified as "post-existential private eye. . . . It's as if Kafka has gotten hooked on the gumshoe game and penned his own ever-spiraling version."

The brilliant installments of Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy include:
CITY OF GLASS - GHOSTS - THE LOCKED ROOM

Review Quotes

"Remarkable . . . the book is a pleasure to read, full of suspense and action. . .[A] strange and powerful adventure in Paul Auster's art."--The New York Times Book Review

"Exhilarating . . . A brilliant investigation of the storyteller's art, guided by a writer-detective who's never satisfied with just the facts."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A wondrous whodunit for metaphysicians, an intricate detective story and many-layered romance."--Russell Banks

Praise for Paul Auster:

"One of the great American prose stylists of our time."--New York Times

"Auster really does possess the wand of the enchanter."--New York Review of Books

"One of the great writers of our time."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Contemporary American writing at its best."--New York Times Book Review, on Invisible

"A literary original who is perfecting a hybrid genre of his own."--The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Sunset Park, The Book of Illusions, Moon Palace, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. In 2006, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. His other honors include the Prix Médicis étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the screenplay of Smoke, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Burning Boy, and the Carlos Fuentes Prize for his body of work. His novel 4 3 2 1 was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. Paul Auster died in 2024.