Overall, it is a winning pastiche of youthful indiscretions not unlike early Fitzgerald (Thompson was a big admirer) or Michael Chabon’s “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” another debut novel that heralded the arrival of a great talent while only hinting at the direction said talent would eventually take. Thompson’s writing is crisp, even elegant in a kind of raw fashion. Chief among the correspondents is Yeamon, supposedly researching why the locals are deserting the tropical island paradise even as privileged Americans are flocking to it mostly, though, Yeamon would rather pick a drunken fight than file a story. The paper’s editor is the blustery Lotterman, who rotates stale assignments among the pool while assuring them that the paper has loyal backers and adequate funding. Kemp is amused rather than engaged by Sala’s rants and hangs around him more for the entertainment value than the friendship. First is Sala, a dejected and cynical staff photographer who spends most of his time bemoaning his “degenerate” co-workers if it weren’t for freelance undercover assignments shooting casino interiors, he might have no work at all. A chaotic soup of characters is immediately introduced. Paul Kemp is a wandering journalist who, following stints in New York and London, has managed to land (as Thompson had) in San Juan for the purpose of working at a doomed English-language newspaper, the Daily News.
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