The Debtor Class
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Fresh from prison, young Bento stumbles into a job at a quirky collection agency, joining an unconventional crew that works out of a former warehouse where bats and pigeons roost in the rafters. Collectors scavenge among hammered victims of an economy that never seems to work for them. Debtors include patsies, cheats, liars, bewildered shopaholics, and furiously dedicated deadbeats. All bought the American dream but couldn't pay the price.
"Bill collectors are like priests," says a crew member. "You can tell me anything."
Battered "schmoes" do just that, sharing secrets with collector-confessors who in some cases only recently exited the list of shame themselves.
A blue-skinned survivalist cop dreams of acceptance as he schemes to steal drug money; a young woman with a masters in library science waves to drivers from inside a chicken costume; a world-renowned author is picked clean by an ex-girlfriend; an Air Force navigator loses control as he transports corpses of the fallen back to the States; and lovers find each other at the other end of a collection call.
Meanwhile Bento struggles to elude a cell that's awaited him all along. As their paths intersects, characters' lives throb with humor, suspense, and the intensity that flows from human beings under relentless pressure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A chance encounter with collection-agency owner Philyaw leads ex-con Bento to a job and an unexpected sense of belonging in this gripping, elliptical novel from Goldman (Isaac: A Modern Fable). Bento and colleague Liz Huizar who racked up student loans to obtain a master of library science degree, then found herself working as a dancing chicken for a fast-food restaurant are at the center of an eccentric cast, including Bogart look-alike Philyaw; Gillespie, an unscrupulous cop whose Y2K fears led him to imbibe silver, permanently turning his skin blue; and Roland Sussman, a bestselling writer who returns from a three-year retreat in a commune to learn that his ex-girlfriend has stolen all his assets. Though Goldman doesn't develop all his potentially intriguing characters or give much more than cursory accounts of their interactions, this is a sobering and triumphant read about the recent recession's effects on average Americans, the challenges ex-convicts face in society, and the bonds people forge in unlikely circumstances.
