Inherent Vice is the latest novel from Thomas Pynchon and it’s probably his most accessible work (at least since The Crying of Lot 49.  I’d previously read The Crying of Lot 49 and V and started Gravity’s Rainbow at least 10 times (I made it as far as page 10 once), but this is a different Pynchon. Inherent Vice is James Ellroy on LSD with drug plots and kidnapping and local police up against the FBI and giant dentist conspiracies. If it sounds confusing, rest assured it is, but it’s still entry-level Pynchon.

Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello is a private investigator  who has moved up the chain from taking snapshots of cheating spouses to investigating missing people. When an ex-girlfriend comes in to ask for help with her married boyfriend, Doc finds himself getting involved in a bigger mystery then he signed up for. Police informants, a detective named Bigfoot, a brainwashing dentist cult, Vegas casinos and the beginning of ARPANET start getting involved as Doc gets almost as confused about what’s going on as we are.

As Doc starts finding out more about old friends then he wanted to, he has to start making decisions about which side he is on and which side he should be on. After Doc, his friends and the plot wind their way around the west coast, Pynchon winds everything up in a neat little pile and leaves the reader wondering what just happened. Inherent Vice is an entry point for readers who want to know if Pynchon is for them.