An HR exec-turned-private eye goes deep into a rich LA family's dangerous secrets in this "crackling crime yarn" by the author of The Silent Second (Kirkus Reviews).
Corporate HR executive Chuck Restic found a new sense of purpose when he started moonlighting as LA's most unassuming private investigator. And when he's offered a hundred grand to find a rich old man's missing granddaughter, it seems like the kind of case even full-time PI's only dream about. Then reality sets in. It turns out real estate tycoon Carl Valenti has already paid a hefty ransom for his granddaughter's release-to no avail. Also, Valenti's chauffer Hector will be at Chuck's service throughout his investigation-whether he likes it or not.
The trail leads Chuck to a high-profile fight over a new art museum and a forty-year-old murder that won't stay in the past. As the list of suspects expands to include the girl's fitness-obsessed mom, her personal life coach, and even the girl herself, all roads seem to lead back to Valenti. And Chuck begins to wonder if this dream job is going to leave him sleeping with the fishes.
This is the second book in the Chuck Restic mystery series.
Our favorite HR man-turned-detective is back, searching for the kidnapped granddaughter of a billionaire with a mysteriously murderous past.
"A number of professions have intriguing similarities to detective work-like reporter, or psychiatrist, or even historian. But an HR executive for a megacorporation? Chuck Restic, narrator of this densely packed novel, has been absorbing what Orwell called 'duckspeak'-'core deliverables,' 'key dependencies'-long enough to know that if he doesn't take this quacking seriously, he'll be at the mercy of people who do.... This one's all about style, and the juicy bits are all in the evocative writing-'the wonderfully sad pink of an early Sunday morning'-and the offbeat information: to see in darkness look out the corner of your eye."
- Booklist
"Nuanced character portraits and slowly building suspense make this both an involving human story and a crackling crime yarn."
- Kirkus
"Chuck's sharp, wry insights into the absurdity of the corporate world reveal his existential need for more meaning in his life, and many scenes are genuinely funny? Phillips's clever blend of the absurd and the serious will have readers looking forward to Chuck's next adventure."
- Publishers Weekly"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
