Set against the backdrop of a lush and exotic Greece, The Names is considered the book which began to drive âsharply upward the size of his readershipâ (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Among the cast of DeLilloâs bizarre yet fully realized characters in The Names are Kathryn, the narratorâs estranged wife; their son, the six-year-old novelist; Owen, the scientist; and the neurotic narrator obsessed with his own neuroses. A thriller, a mystery, and still a moving examination of family, loss, and the amorphous and magical potential of language itself, The Names stands with any of DeLilloâs more recent and highly acclaimed works.