Brilliant...The accumulated reading experience is one of admiration,close to awe,at the vigour of Chabon's imagination.

Chabon's new detective novel,The Yiddish Policemen's Union,consolidates his reputation for virtuoso descriptive writing,shrewd character development,and breathtaking plotting.

For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka in the Alaskan panhandle--a"temporary" safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. But now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.

His life a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster, homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. And to make matters worse, in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder...