Motherless Brooklyn

Lethem, one of the most celebrated novelists writing today, turns detective stories on their heads with this wonderfully inventive gem. Equal parts gritty crime tale and literary masterpiece, Motherless Brooklyn is hailed as "the best novel of the year" by Esquire. Lionel "Human Freakshow" Essrog has Tourette's Syndrome. He can't control the eruptions of seemingly senseless, often crude words that frequently spew from his mouth. But when the boss of his less-than-legal detective agency is knifed in the stomach, Lionel won't let his affliction keep him from trying to crack the case-if only he can restrain his outbursts long enough. Lethem's remarkable book is a completely fresh take on the detective genre. His mastery of prose is perfectly matched by acclaimed narrator Frank Muller, whose deft handling of the challenging dialog must be heard to be believed.