Humpty Dumpty in Oakland

Philip K. Dick would eventually become known for his brilliantly neurotic sci-fi tales (DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?), but in his early and previously unpublished novels, he wrote about normal working-class Americans, down on their luck, struggling with their unraveling lives. In HUMPTY DUMPTY IN OAKLAND, a paranoid used-car salesman, Al Miller, believes his ailing landlord, Jim Fergesson, is getting swindled by a record producer. In an ill-advised and ill-fated scheme, Miller tries to save Fergesson and help himself, but finds himself increasingly entangled in ethically questionable behavior. Fans of Dick will see the telltale signs of his later work: suspicion, confusion, and characters losing their identities in tangled plot lines beyond their control.