One of the Guys (Hardcover)

Miles Derry is a recovering alcoholic who, in his sole pursuit to make his monthly child support payment, has taken on a string of dead-end and often seedy jobs. One night, while working at the Little Pink Bookstore, he comes across a stiff -- in every sense of the word -- who turns out to be a chaplain in the U.S. Navy. Choosing to take the chaplain's identity as a way out of his own miserable life, Miles reports for duty on the U.S.S. Warren Harding as it embarks for Southeast Asia.

As the ship travels from Okinawa to the Philippines to Burma, Miles finds himself in murky waters. He discovers some discomfiting secrets about his married, secretly homosexual alter-ego, and the resulting mayhem ultimately transforms him. With all the tension of a Patricia Highsmith thriller and the humor and compassion of early John Irving, One of the Guys is a remarkable debut novel, at once beguiling and entertaining.