A Conspiracy of Tall Men

By Noah Hawley

Book Overview

In this remarkably smart and totally absorbing literary thriller, Noah Hawley cracks through our last remaining illusions about life in America to expose the dark, eccentric paranoia that thrives at its center. ???????? Linus Owen is a professor of conspiracy theory at Modesto College in San Rafael, California. He teaches, among other things, a graduate-level class on JFK and gives seminars on magic bullet theories and how the symbols on the dollar bill reveal the presence of a secret government leading the world toward biblical Armageddon. ???????? Recently, Linus's marriage has had its problems, so his wife, Claudia, has taken a few days off to visit her mother in Chicago, leaving Linus to wander his empty house alone. But if Claudia is in Chicago, how is it that two FBI agents can show up at Linus's office and tell him that she has been killed in a plane crash on her way from New York to Brazil? And why did a man named Jeffrey Holden, the vice president of a major pharmaceuticals company, buy her ticket and die beside her on the plane? Enlisting the aid of Edward and Roy, his friends and fellow conspiracy theorists, who help him sort through disinformation from federal authorities, Linus begins an investigation that will ultimately bring all three men to the heart of the American desert and to the realization that what they thought was the truth is really something far more sinister. ???????? Crackling with energy and style, populated by gritty, off-beat characters all harboring their own hidden agendas,A Conspiracy of Tall Menprovides a fast-paced, literate look into the ominous rebirth of American nervousness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609602802
• ISBN13: 9780609602805
• Release Date: June 1998
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, The
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Thriller/ conspiracy-theory satire will keep you up nights

This book defies genre. It is at heart, a thriller in the manner of a Hitchcock man-against-dark-forces movie, but at the same time it is a satire of the 90s tendency to see conspiracies everywhere while at the same time a chilling & credible vision of one possible conspiracy. It is also a well-written book with a lot of funny observations about our culture & insights into human relationships.To say this book is like a bad X-files episode is, I think, to miss the point - like criticizing Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" for being like a bad monster movie. As satire, it necessarily takes the elements of the conspiracy thriller and exaggerates them. What is so unique about this novel is that at the same time as it skewers this paranoid mentality, it sucks you into believing that the conspiracy played out in the book could/does really exist.The book has a very postmodern feel, so if you like your fiction to be more traditional in writing style, this rapid-fire present-tense perspective-shifting style may turn you off. Given the subject of the book, I thought it worked.

Excellent

Breath-taking, witty and very well written. And the love scenes between the college boy and the filipina maid left my book group and I smoldering in our seats. My friend Dorothy ignored our debate and stared out the window. When we finally asked her what she thought of the confrontation in the garlic field, she sighed and said, "where did that boy learn such steamy writing?" All I can say is "Noa Hully, you've got a fan club in Bakersfield!"

Lot's of fun!!

This book was great! If you like the three "Lone Gunman" from The X Files, you'll love this book.

Suspense Plus!!

I loved reading this book. Great story, great writing. I don't want to give anything away though because the twists and turns in the plot are amazing. Not to mention, that's a great title.

Carefully crafted modern mystery novel.

Well written and timely mystery novel that weaves fact, modern myth and fiction into a thick story. The best intellectual mystery I have read in a while. The author uses a hyper-thread story development style that richens the plot with short metaphoric rants. I was lucky enough to read a pre-release copy and would highly recommend it for it's progressive writing style and timeliness. I cant wait for the next book!