The Reserve: A Novel [Paperback]

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness—and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules. Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondack wilderness to the skies above war-torn Spain and Fascist Germany,The Reserveis a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense that adds a new dimension to this acclaimed author's extraordinary repertoire.

Like our living literary giants Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon, Russell Banks is a great writer wrestling with the hidden secrets and explosive realities of this country.Russell Bankss work presents without falsehood and with tough affection the uncompromising moral voice of our time... I trust his portraits of America more than any otherthe burden of it, the need for it, the hell of it.Banks ranks among our boldest artists.A vividly imagined book. It has the romantic atmosphere of those great 1930s tales in film and prose, and it speeds the reader along from its first pages&Banks talents are so large - and the novel so fundamentally engaging&THE RESERVE is a pleasure well worth savoring.A cool noir thriller...This is new and wonderful turf for this masterful storyteller....sexy, almost guilty pleasure of a read......this powerful and beautiful Russell Banks novel is close to a masterpiece.[A] riveting narrative, featuring an almost pot-boiling love story . . . tantalizing . . . Banks works with a vast palette and a sure stylistic command. The Reserve gratifies page by page.Russell Bankss work presents without falsehood and with tough affection the uncompromising moral voice of our time. I trust his portraits of America more than any other.Bankss willingness to confront& the hard truths about the world we live in& goesl³"