Finnegan's Week is a fine example of Wambaugh's later fiction. One might begin by comparing it to one of Wambaugh's first novels. Clearly there has been a gain in professional technique; Finnegan's Week is a smoothly constructed, highly entertaining narrative.

What has Wambaugh gained over the years? What has he lost?

1. Is the environmental social concern overplayed or underplayed? Is Wambaugh merely being politically correct by inserting such a crime as the premise of the action? Or does the dumping of toxic waste echo thematically in a novel about other kinds of corruption in America?

2. How do you judge Wambaugh's treatment of Mexicans in the novel?

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have played a prominent role in Wambaugh's novels from the very beginning. (African-Americans, by contrast, have generally occupied token roles.) Is Wambaugh successful in creating Mexican individuals, not Mexican stereotypes?

3. There is a clear class division in...