Steve Reeves, the protagonist of Stephan Jarmaillo's first novel, Going Postal, is living proof that a college degree doesn't get you that far anymore. The first and only member of his family to graduate from college, Steve has risen no higher on the ladder to success than working at a bagel shop, a job he's just lost. Losing a job is, for Steve, demoralizing, even more so since his girlfriend has exited from his life at the same time. What's the unemployed son of a San Diego mailman to do? As the title suggests, Steve bears a grudging admiration for a subset of his father's colleagues, those frustrated and overworked postal workers who finally snap and start shooting; he even starts carrying a gun that his father gave him. But by novel's end Steve has a new girl, a new job, and a measure of contentment that even a Colt .45 can't supply. How he makes it all happen without Going Postal is pure entertainment.
