The Salinger Contract

August 12, 2013
This playful literary thriller from Langer (The Thieves of Manhattan) about the imperiled state of writers and books in the 21st century suggests Paul Auster's New York Trilogy with a lighter touch. Narrator Adam Langer's quiet existence as a stay-at-home dad in Bloomington, Ind., is disrupted when thriller author Conner Joyce, whom Adam once profiled in his livelier past life as a journalist in New York City, comes to town on an author tour. Soon after the two renew their friendship, Conner reveals that he's received a bizarre offer. The wealthy, mysterious Dex wants Conner to write a novel for a private collection of unpublished manuscripts from the likes of Thomas Pynchon, Norman Mailer, and, of course, J.D. Salinger. Adam becomes the bestselling author's closest confidant as Conner's involvement with Dex turns dangerous. Langer stumbles with his strained characterization of Conner as an all-around regular guy, but his vision of the publishing world, which ranges from a half-empty Midwestern Borders to a young adult fantasy author who comes on like a foul-mouthed cross between J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer, is a wittily spooky creation.