From Publishers Weekly The pleasures of this smart， tightly constructed novelHiggins's 18th book in as many yearsreside in its author's familiar gift for pungent dialogue and dead-on characterization. Once again， it is set in a version of Boston in which each character lives by a different code of honor， and some live by none. Gene Arbuckle's Navy career ended in the brig; now he is chauffeur to Ken Farley， a wealthy contractor who may soon be targeted for Federal indictment. When a case of justified assault lands him back in legal trouble， Arbuckle faces a brutal choice: he can go to jail， or trade information on Farley for his own freedom. Complicating matters is Farley's wife Nell， a paranoid schizophrenic whose wild accusations against her husband may not seem at all crazy to ambitious prosecutors. Unfolding in a series of long， anecdotal conversations， the novel initially seems like a series of detours， but the various plot lines merge with a narrative mastery in the final chapters. While not as suspenseful as some of his earlier work， Wonderful Years shows Higgins at the top of his form as a stylist. BOMC selection. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information， Inc.