Chuck Restic has achieved the American dream: a successful career with a large corporation, his own home, the best health care insurance and retirement package... but he's crumbling inside. Twenty years in Human Resources have pushed him into an existential crisis. He realizes there is so little value in what he does all day, and it is only when he embarks on a mission to find a missing employee from his firm that he truly starts to feel alive again.
This is Chuck's first step toward moonlighting as a private detective - a job in which he turns out to excel. Constantly balancing the inane demands of his office and the excitement of his new "job," he finally finds what he's been missing. By applying his HR skills and wit to his new passion for detective work, Chuck unravels a web of crooked real estate deals and three murders, staving off a fourth: his own.
The first in the Chuck Restic mystery series, The Silent Second began life as the novel Smile Now, Cry Later, a self-publishing success story that led to a series commitment from publisher Prospect Park Books. Thoroughly re-edited, improved, re-designed, and re-titled, this smart, witty crime novel introduces an engaging (if sometimes bitter) private eye for the corporate era.
An HR manager in L.A. finds his purpose in life by moonlighting as a private detective.
"The Silent Second is Chinatown for the Human Resources Department. Full of humor, outrage, and suspense. Adam Phillips's book is everything a thriller should be."
-- Phoef Sutton, New York Times' bestselling author of Heart Attack and Vine and Wicked Charms
"[An] absorbing first novel and series launch... the insights into the workings of the corporate mind and the machinations of L.A. real estate are worth the price of admission."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Bodies are piling up. It's the ultimate people problem. This guy in HR can handle it."
-- Joe Toplyn, Emmy-winning writer for such shows as Monk and Late Show with David Letterman, and author of Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV
"Phillips' prose overall is smart and supple, with a humorous bent, and this debut kicks off a promising series."
-- Booklist
"Just when you thought detective fiction had hit a plateau, along comes The Silent Second. Adam Phillips takes us into new territory, running a tight ship, sniffing out L.A. in detail, and then covering it with a steely patina of darkness in true noir fashion. This taut, smart, fast-paced thriller is from a fresh author to watch."
-- Jim Heimann, executive editor at Taschen America and author of Sins of the City and Los Angeles: Portrait of a City.
"Compassion blossoms into obsession, turning a corporate middleman into a neophyte sleuth?Chuck's engaging first-person narrative effectively puts the reader into his unsteady shoes in this promising series kickoff."
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Beneath the surface of every corporate drone is a story waiting to be told. Adam Phillips solves the mystery hidden in each seemingly innocuous word, mannerism, and expression to expose another piece in this twisting puzzle. Surprising and funny, it turns out this HR professional also makes a damn fine investigator and tells a story that feels honest and fantastic at the same time."
-- Sarah Cooper, creator of TheCooperReview.com and author of 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings
"The real mystery here is how Phillips keeps elevating the suspense and the humor simultaneously."
- Bob Halloran, author of White Devil and Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward
"One of the most engaging and refreshing novels to hit the market this season. Think Monk meets Moonlighting, with a whole bunch of The Office tossed in for good measure, that is, a burned-out HR director who's a hybrid of Marlowe and Michael Scott. Like me, you'll laugh your ass off while immersed in the mystery."
- M. William Phelps, New York Times' bestselling author of Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer
"If there is such a thing as corporate noir, Phillips nails it, and the literary flavor of these terrifically entertaining mysteries can be best described as Philip Marlowe meets Dilbert."
- Booklist
