Book Review: Day of Reckoning

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Day of Reckoning     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
John Katzenbach
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Multnomah, Apr 2002, $11.99, 350 pp.

Grant Randall Logan IV closed down the Baxter Plant of Logan Textiles moving the factory to Costa Rica where labor is cheaper. The decision left 283 people out of work with few prospects. Some had put in three decades of loyalty only to be left with nothing except bills, bitterness, and beloved family members with no future.

Wayne Purdy, an adult child of a displaced worker, thirsts for vengeance against G. R. IV. He blames the cold magnate for his dad’s death not long after the plant shut down. Wayne’s world consists of an icon etched into his brain of he holding his mother and younger sister at their father’s funeral with not even a condolence note from G. R. IV. However, is his obsessive ire enough to cause him to go over the edge and actively avenge his father and other family members starting with a kidnapping? Or is one of the other victims of the plant closing behind the attempts to get back at the seemingly insulated G.R.?

As with the first Baxter novel, TESTED WITH FIRE, DAY OF RECKONING is a fascinating tale overpopulated with too many secondary characters, yet readers will enjoy the basic story line. The well-written plot shows the aftermath of a bottom line decision on the people of a small factory town. Though lacking the bite of Michael Moore’s Roger and Me, Kathy Herman’s second Baxter novel is an insightful tale that is at its best when the author empowers her audience to see deep into the souls of her distraught cast.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner