Publication Date: August 19, 2025
A darkly comic novel of intrigue, adventure, and the perils of self-invention from the author of The Torqued Man, set in San Francisco and the Asian Pacific during the outbreak of the Second World War.
In 1939, just as the clouds of war are gathering, Richard Halifax—boys’ adventure writer of manly bravado and the breeziest of prose styles—vanishes in the Pacific. Halifax was attempting to sail a Chinese junk from Hong Kong to San Francisco as part of the World’s Fair festivities on Treasure Island. But while his disappearance upends the lives of those left in his wake back home, both his machinations and his letters to his young readers live on.
Hildegard Rauch, an émigré painter and the daughter of Germany’s greatest living writer in exile, finds her twin brother in a coma after an attempted suicide. He left a mysterious note that sends her on a search for the truth about her brother’s relationship with Richard Halifax and the dangerous secret he entrusted to the writer before his voyage.
Simon Faulk, a British intelligence officer, has been assigned to ferret out Nazi spies in California. He learns of the arrival of a mysterious American agent from across the Pacific, part of a joint German-Japanese operation.
Told in the alternating voices of these three characters, set against the growing threat of another world war and a World’s Fair dedicated to peace, World Pacific is a madcap quixotic tale that explores the many forms of shipwreck, exile, betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves in the fight to stay afloat.
Inspired by various historical figures, author Peter Mann takes readers on a pre-World War II romp, illustrating precise character development.
World Pacific brings to mind the writing of F. Scott Fitzgerald. As the author sets the stage for the story to unfold, the “how” plays a significant role.
It could be the formal language or the use of irony, but there were passages full of hidden meaning that left me wondering what I had missed. This is probably more of a “me” issue than a deficiency in the book.
The story unfolds in alternating perspectives, centering around fictional character Richard Halifax, based on the real Richard Halliburton. The author’s description of the book as a “funhouse of fiction” is right on target. Mann clearly knows how to manipulate prose to fit the time period.
World Pacific will appeal to readers seeking a sophisticated reading adventure.
Peter Mann is the author of the novel The Torqued Man, named one of The New Yorker’s Best Books of 2022 and Best Historical Fiction of the year by CrimeReads. Originally from Kansas City, he is a longtime resident of San Francisco and teaches history and literature at Stanford. He also draws comics on his Substack newsletter The Quixote Syndrome.
