Donad E. Westlake: The Ax (1998)

From the Publisher:
Burke Devore is a paper company manager, a man who can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about bleaching processes and the edible wood pulp they put in ice cream. For twenty-five years Burke has provided for his family and played by the rules. Until now. Now Devore is slipping away: from his wife, his family, and from all norms of civilized behavior. Burke Devore wants his life back. And he will do anything to get it.

The Ax

Donald E. Westlake has been called "a consummate pro" by the Washington Post Book World and "one of the smoothest, most engaging writers on the planet" by the San Diego Tribune. In his astounding new novel, the author who invented the comic caper and penned such unforgettable screenplays as The Grifters and The Stepfather has written a tale of dark, mesmerizing power about one quiet, ordinary victim of corporate downsizing - who reacts in a most extraordinary way.

From his attempts to land a new job, to the growing rift between him and his loved ones, Devore knows that he is running out of time. Believing that there is just one way to earn the only job he has a chance of getting, he sets off on a path from which there can be no turning back-no matter how bizarre and violent, no matter who gets in the way; no matter how evil Burke Devore becomes. Burke Devore is gunning for his competition, and it's getting easier every time...

In this relentlessly fascinating novel, the masterful Donald Westlake takes us on a journey of obsession and outrage inside a quiet man's desperate world. And as we follow in Devore's blood-soaked footsteps, the question begins to echo darkly: In a society driven by the promise of the good life, how far are any of us from the edge?

Donad E. Westlake: The Ax. Warner Books, ISBN: 0446606081 (May, 1998), 339 p., $6.99