Downsized: A Novel

In Queens, New York, Jim Marsh, an Iraq vet with PTSD, has adapted well to civilian life and is on his way up the corporate ladder. A devoted husband with a wife, two young children, and a new house, he is living the American dream. His employer is engaged in a merger that should bring him a well-deserved promotion. And that’s when he finds it all crashing down around him.

Over the course of the next few months, in a state of desperation, Jim finds himself coming into contact with a strange array of people. There’s Vinnie Rossini, a disgruntled mafioso, who is rapidly becoming aware of the lack of retirement benefits in his line of work. Toil Kendrick, Jim’s childhood friend and confidant, is a fly-fishing guide in Montana and recovering alcoholic. He pays Jim a visit at his wife’s request. Meanwhile, in Florida, Miguel Herraras is cutting a deal with the DEA for an early release from prison. All he has to do is become an undercover informant in South Florida’s growing drug trade—an easy job for a man with his credentials, the Feds argue.

In this novel, a man who believes he has lost everything finds himself desperate enough to involve himself in schemes he could never have imagined in his old life.