“If you are a reasonably competent and ambitious individual with a bit of initiative and creativity, and a willingness to look at strict regulations as loose guidelines to be skirted when necessary or convenient, there is no better job for you than Master Sergeant in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps.” -Wayne Ogden The Adjustment
When I first heard that Scott Phillips was writing a new book about Wayne Ogden, his most deliciously sociopathic character , I just about leapt with joy. Wayne first made the scene in The Walkaway, where he provided the first person narration to the plot line set in 1951. And he was mesmerizing. Tough, snarling, smart, cold-hearted and not without his measure of your-mother-always-warned-you-about-his-kind charm,(anybody in a quandary because they’ve run out of Charles Willeford books to read would do well to check out Phillips’ titles), but the book ends in the mid-eighties and by its conclusion we know exactly how Wayne lived the rest of his life. I remember thinking, ‘too bad’ would’ve loved another story featuring that guy.
A couple of short stories popped up later featuring a teenaged Wayne – a ballsy, capable scamp not inclined to let a slight go unattended or something like prudish societal norms get in the way of achieving his goals. Track down the stories Sockdolager and The Crow Killers (from the out of print Plots With Guns anthology - man, if you ever find that used, don't think, just buy) for sure, but know that they are only Lil’Wayne, and not the adult, fully realized, hardened criminal he will become.
In The Walkaway, Wayne is a supply sergeant, (but actually, black marketer and pimp), AWOL from occupied Japan back in Wichita to steal some money from his wife, but the new book, The Adjustment, takes place five years earlier with Wayne discharged and making a go at civilian life in the ‘Ta. He’s employed by the town’s number one citizen Everett Collins as a PR man, (read- bag man, enforcer and procurer of illicit goods and services). It’s kind of right up Wayne’s alley except…
Except that he hates his boss. And what Wayne hates… Add to his sabotage of Collins an anonymous author of threatening letters that Wayne begins receiving about his criminal activities during the war, several personal errands of various import, a weariness with home life, and a cast of memorable (to us), disposable (to Wayne) characters with their own hopes, desires and roles to play in Wayne’s end game and you’ve go t just about a perfect storm of sick summer fun.
The title refers to the transformation American GI’s returning from WWII underwent to reenter society, only with Wayne it refers to his eventual decision to opt out of mainstream squareville permanently. He went to war. He had a blast, and knowing where the character is headed, it’s a rare pleasure to watch certain lifestyle choices dawn on him as well as those first steps toward his personal manifest destiny.
Gosh I hope there's a Wayne in Japan book coming. Oh, please, oh please...
This version of G.I. Joe is unapproved by Stephen Ambrose or Tom Brokaw. You can practically hear Wayne’s prophetic subconscious sneering ‘Greatest generation, my a**’ as he enthusiastically corrupts every sacred duty, capitalizes on every salacious opportunity and savages the good-will of every soul unfortunate enough to extend it his direction. He’s heartless, cunning and cruel, but absolutely the single most readable character you’re likely to see for a long time. Yeah, there are plenty of hard-bastard bad guys who star in their own popular (and quite good) series – Richard Stark’s Parker or Max Allan Collins’s Quarry come to mind, but nobody seems to enjoy their criminality as much as Wayne Ogden. Therefore, we enjoy it right alongside him or rather inside him as the first person narration beckons us to loosen our rigid moral code and slip into something a little more comfortable and exciting.
Go ahead. Do it. It’s just a book.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
