Pumpkin Farmer by Michael Hughes.

                    Pumpkin Farmer by Michael Hughes.

This is presented as a satirical view of American society, two formidable characters, one weak and suicidal, the other, a dangerous man who likes to live on the edge of danger, suffering constant itches or bouts of boredom, high on drugs to get his kicks, with sadistic tendencies. Selfishness pervades the book and there is a superficiality about the attitude of the characters presented. The peripheral characters exude wealth and liberation but in selfish terms, a total disregard for humanity.

It is a dark story and it's difficult to engage with any of them or warm to them. It seems to be a modern trend to introduce characters into a story who are flawed throughout without any redeeming qualities. Take Paula Hawkins, for instance: The Girl on the Train.
"Another victim of reality, of predator and prey, that was how the world worked. It ate its weak, that was the truth."

The story is set in 1979 and we meet John Nix a business manager who works for a firm that appears to be thriving. He picks up a ne'er- do- well heir of a wealthy Canadian family, Horace Fullworth described as a sociopathic drifter who has returned to San Francisco after surviving the Jonestown Massacre. This bit is based on a chilling period of mass-suicides. Jim Jones was best known as the cult leader of the People's Temple who led more than 900 followers in a mass suicide via cyanide-laced punch which was flavoured with purple Kool-Aid. Gunmen killed the visiting U.S. Congressman and four others. Tragically, one third of the victims were children.
Horace is scruffily attired having slummed it in Guyana. His face was sun-scorched and gaunt and his blonde locks were scraggly and flecked with dirt. He has been away for more than a year. His parents died in a car wreck in 1975 but he has a rich uncle who he visits because he wants to sponge off him. He had a privileged upbringing  attending the best schools and as an only child he was spoiled. He has been heavily into substances since a schoolchild. He seemed to have donated his funds to the People's Temple and it was his uncle Nelson who bailed him out, enabling Horace to return to his old home which Nelson had inherited.


Nelson had terminal cancer but would not offer his nephew any further financial assistance other than a further 200$. Instead he tells him straight: "You're on your own, get on it." When Horace picked up the dollars he pricked himself on Nelson's syringes and we are told: "it all came rushing back." The massacre. Guyana, the babies, the Kool-Aid needles and he started to shake. "He just wanted it to stop." Bad memories of Jonestown flashed through his mind, the chaos, the shooting, the corpse of Congressman Leo Ryan and a couple of dead cameramen. A lot of people had drunk the cups voluntarily although for some, such as the babies, it had been forced onto them. Horace suffocated his uncle without a thought of doing wrong.

"Horace knew then and there what he was and always had been. To any person within the most broadly construed borders of normalcy, the sight would have been heinous. Horace, though, felt a calm tinged with exhilaration."

One wonders if he is capable of killing his uncle what next? As a contrast, John is more of a workaholic. He had a decent salary and owned a Spitfire. When he called round to visit girlfriend Laura for some afternoon delight, an euphemism of course he was shocked and horrified to find her having passionate sex with a fit hunk of a  guy. He felt defeated and deflated and his self-confidence was shattered. For most of the book he pines over her, angry at his own stupidity in thinking that a pretty girl like Laura would care about an average guy like him.

Their paths cross again when Horace decides to buy a ranch with his inheritance and farm pumpkins but there's a little more to it than that of course. This is where Ellie comes into it having first met John in a bar in Le Honda before being whisked off her feet by Horace. It's a boy fancies girl scenario without the happy ending. Perhaps Ellie isn't quite as innocent as she seems either? Murders, abduction and a suicide. How about that? That'll keep you interested.

REVIEW it by Carol Naylor.

Publisher: Black Rose Writing.   ISBN: 978-1-94715-08-3

 Copyright 2017. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this article review is reproduced.

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