Lethem ventures into 'Chronic City'

Brooklyn’s literary son Jonathan Lethem returns to the scene this month with his eighth novel, Chronic City.

After adventures in Los Angeles (You Don’t Love Me Yet) and Brooklyn (The Fortress of Solitude, Motherless Brooklyn), Lethem’s latest finds the author crossing the bridge to Manhattan and following Chase Insteadman, a former child star and fixture on the city’s social scene, and tabloids, in large part to his fiancée, who’s trapped on the International Space Station.

Enter Perkus Tooth, a cultural critic who draws Chase out of the Upper East Side as they attempt to solve several mysteries and follow the clues he sees in everything from the font of The New Yorker to old movies, as well as nurture a dope dependency.

Written with a keen ear for banter and satire as the author gives a searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies, Chronic City, out October 13 on Doubleday, has already been hailed as a masterpiece.

Hear the author read from the novel when he comes to Book Court (163 Court St.) in Cobble Hill on October 20. At 7 p.m. For more information, call 718-875-3677.