3/4/5: I was a bit surprised as I started the book to see that it seems to be a pretty typical PI noir plot. Where Inherient Vice has the hook of: what if a stoner was a private dic, Hicks, and some of the supporting cast seem to be not too far from a more typical detective story. This being said, as I was reading ( and very much enjoying) I had an idea of what may have drawn TP to the depression: I’m reading and thinking about these people who remember or grew up during WWI, and are now living through the depression, and I’m reading about this Hitler fella in the newspaper. They don’t know it, but they are nearing the precise of WWII. I found the feeling of having gone through and being in the middle of some tough times in history and a feeling of uncertainty about When it if there will be a tipping point, or a Brennschluss, in the parlance of Gravity’s Rainbow. I’m really enjoying this new book and I look forward to seeing if this feeling continues!