by Tom Robbins
First published 2004
Three American soldiers vanish during the Vietnam War and choose to stay missing in the mountains of Laos. Decades later, they live quietly under the protection of tanuki, shape-shifting trickster spirits from Japanese folklore. Their peaceful exile shatters when the outside world discovers them. Meanwhile, four generations of women in one family carry a strange bond with these same folkloric creatures. The story moves between the hidden villa in Laos and cities like Bangkok, Seattle, and San Francisco. Intelligence agents hunt the missing soldiers while circus performers and con artists blur the lines between reality and performance. Everyone wears masks, literal or metaphorical, in a world where identity shifts like smoke. The tanuki spirits orchestrate elaborate deceptions that expose deeper truths about war, freedom, and what it means to disappear from your old life. Tom Robbins weaves together mythology and modern geopolitics as his characters discover that the greatest disguises often reveal our most authentic selves.
Genres: mythology, adventure, fantasy, magical-realism
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, hidden-identity
Setting: Laos, Bangkok, Seattle, San Francisco
Period: Vietnam War, Decades Later
245 pages · Trade Paperback · Bantam Books