Things arenβt going so well for Richie Segal. His prospects at the job are pretty miserable and, whatβs more humiliating, his wifeβs prospects at her job are pretty good. Richie knows heβs a good salesman, but he just canβt seem to land an account. And heβs starting to drink again. And worry about whether Paulaβs seeing that old high school flame, or maybe someone new. Itβs a little early, at thirty-four, for a mid-life crisis, but thatβs pretty much what it feels like. And thereβre those unwelcome memories of the neighborhood bully, Michael Rudnick and what he did to Richie when he was thirteen. Richie Segalβs feeling, well, abused.
Just when Richieβs about as low as he can get, he runs into Rudnick on the street and knows exactly what he needs to do. And suddenly things seem to be going much better. That is until they get much, much worse. In the classic tradition of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain, Hard Feelings is novel that lets us into the mind of an ordinary guy capable of things that even he couldnβt have imagined.
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