The hero of this dazzling novel by American master E. L. Doctorow is Joe, a young man on the run in the depths of the Great Depression. A late-summer night finds him alone and shivering beside a railroad track in the Adirondack mountains when a private railcar passes. Brightly lit windows reveal well-dressed men at a table and, in another compartment, a beautiful girl holding up a white dress before her naked form. Joe will follow the track to the mysterious estate at Loon Lake, where he finds the girl along with a tycoon, an aviatrix, a drunken poet, and a covey of gangsters. Here Joe’s fate will play out in this powerful story of ambition, aggression, and identity. Loon Lake is another stunning achievement of this acclaimed author.

Powerful … [a] complex and haunting meditation on modern American history.
-The New York Times

A genuine thriller … a marvelous exploration of the complexities and contradictions of the American dream … Not under any circumstances would we reveal the truly shattering climax.
-The Dallas Morning News

A dazzling performance … [Loon Lake] anatomizes America with insight, passion, and inventiveness.
-The Washington Post Book World

Hypnotic … tantalizes long after it has ended.
-Time

Compelling … brilliantly done.
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A masterpiece.
-Chicago Sun-Times