Going, Going, Gone

Publishers Weekly has called Jack Womack a futurist wunderkind ... fast-moving, hipper-than-hip. In his latest novel it's 1968, and Walter Bullitt, part-time U.S. government freelancer, stays busy testing new psychotropics on himself and unsuspecting citizens. Walter's conscience never interferes with his work -- until he's asked to help sabotage Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign. The ghosts who've moved into his apartment aren't much comfort. Then two outre femmes fatales show up and frog-march Walter out of Max's Kansas City before the Velvet Underground can finish their first song. The ladies have a mission. They need to save New York -- both his and theirs. Called infernally clever by Locus, Going, Going, Gone is a deeply entertaining novel that closes Jack Womack's acclaimed Ambient series and serves up an apt diagnosis of modern America. Daringly, scaringly distinct in contemporary fiction. -- Marjorie Preston, Philadelphia Weekly The action moves with amphetamine quickness, and Womack's surefooted control over his material completely sucks us in.... -- Bruce Bauman, Bookforum