The Adjustment

June 6, 2011
Set in post-WWII Kansas, Phillips's gritty noir manages to hook the reader with one of the more repellant leads in recent memory, Wayne Ogden, who appeared in the closing section of The Walkaway (2003). Having spent his wartime army service as a corrupt quartermaster and a pimp, Ogden finds adjusting to civilian life a strain. He takes no joy in his wife being pregnant. Nominally working in publicity and marketing for Everett Collins, the owner of a Wichita aircraft company, Ogden actually serves Collins as a troubleshooter and procurer, roles that enable him to keep fresh the unscrupulous skills he developed overseas. As anonymous threatening letters related to his activities during the war begin to arrive, Ogden maneuvers to gain greater control over Collins, while engaging in sex with any warm female body within view. The author's unapologetic depiction of a thoroughly bad egg will appeal to hard-boiled fans who don't need redeeming features to become engaged with a character.

July 1, 2011
Wayne Ogden's adjustment to civilian life after WWII only seems to be going well. He's head of public relations for Collins Aircraft in Wichita, but his primary duty is aiding and abetting founder and CEO Everett Collins' promiscuity, alcoholism, and prescription-drug abuse. It's a job he's uniquely qualified for; as a supply sergeant in Rome, he excelled in theft, black marketeering, and pimping. His war wound, for which he was given a Purple Heart, came from a knife wielded by another pimp. Now he's expecting a child he doesn't want; Collins is out of control; and Ogden is receiving threats in the mail from someone who knows about his activities in Rome. Author Phillips' debut, The Ice Harvest (2000), was widely admired, and The Adjustment is a sly and worthy successor. Ogden's character evolves from nasty cynic to violent criminal, a distorted mirror image of the problems many returning GIs faced. Wichita, Phillips' hometown, again becomes a prime location for seedy noir. Crime fans, especially those who favor a vivid sense of place and time, will love it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)