Prisoner's Dilemma

The magnificent second novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Overstory and Playground.

“Accomplished . . . mature and assured. . . . A major American novelist.”— New Republic

Something is wrong with Eddie Hobson, Sr., father of four, sometime history teacher, quiz master, black humorist, and virtuoso invalid. His recurring fainting spells have worsened, and given his ingrained aversion to doctors, his worried family tries to discover the nature of his sickness.

Meanwhile, in private, Eddie puts the finishing touches on a secret project he calls Hobbstown, a place that he promises will save him, the world, and everything that’s in it.

A dazzling novel of compassion and imagination, Prisoner’s Dilemma is a story of the power of individual experience.

“Grand fiction...Prisoner’s Dilemma is magnificent. Set it up there in the stratosphere with the American novels we study like pictures in the sky.” 

"Accomplished . . . mature and assured. . . . A major American novelist." - The New Republic

“A complex treatment of time...An absorbing view of history.”  - New York Times Book Review

“Enough plot twists and conspiracy-making ingredients to satisfy the most demanding aficionado of the genre.”  - Irish Times