SLAPHAPPY

by Dug Brown dug brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

In Brown’s debut satirical novel, a low-rent web series host becomes a faith healer.

Bruiser hosts the popular Atlanta-based internet game show “Greed.” He and a small crew run around the city to find people willing to undertake risqué dares for cash. Most of these dares involve sexual acts or activities that would repulse many of the captivated viewers, such as contestants’ licking unappealing items. When Bruiser himself takes part in the game, it ends with a slap to his face that knocks him out for two days. When he awakens, he feels different, starting with his apparent ability to hear others’ thoughts. And there’s more: When he slaps someone (which he does on “Greed” when contestants fail to complete dares), he astonishingly heals such ailments as cancer and cerebral palsy. Predictably, his boss sees nothing but dollar signs and offers Bruiser an entirely new series based on this phenomenon. People flock to Bruiser as if he were an evangelist, and he, with cameras rolling, moves from person to person, healing each one. Unfortunately, this ability has its downsides—those craving his healing slap practically mob him. There are also the shadows, which only Bruiser sees, that escape a body every time he heals someone; his healing light may very well be inviting more darkness into the world.

Ultra-black humor permeates this story. Much of what Bruiser pays “Greed” contestants to do is distasteful and clearly only done for money. He likewise revels, at least initially, in such excesses as cocaine and alcohol. The author offsets these acts with a gleeful lexicon of slang for sex, drugs, and body parts, referring to contestants who “plowed the field” and an individual’s very intimate “sand trap.” The text is loaded with banter between Bruiser and his personable crew, including longtime friend/producer Dick, cameraman Less, and Less’ twin sister, Leslie, the production’s editor. While character development is nominal, readers eventually get pieces of Bruiser’s backstory: He, for whatever reason, doesn’t have the best relationship with his mother and rejects his birth name, as it’s his father’s. His sister provides further mystery, as she did something in the past to incense the FBI and now seems to be missing. Brown deepens Bruiser’s mysterious ability with surreal turns: Bruiser experiences vivid dreams of otherworldly landscapes that appear safer than the real world, and there are instances when it’s not so easy, for Bruiser or readers, to distinguish reality from his dreams (“The wall glitches, returning to space, and looking to fill an empty space in his mind, he asks, ‘What happened after that?’ There’s another glitch and the wall returns to just being a wall. He closes his eyes and breathes in, thinking, ‘Maybe if I fall asleep here, I’ll wake up there’ ”). The final act takes an unexpected direction, primarily to offer some kind of explanation regarding the healing ability. It’s a truly bizarre development, as it introduces new characters, more violence, and a tie to someone in Bruiser’s past. At the same time, it fits right in line with the overall narrative and pays off with a worthy open ending.

This dark comedy effectively lampoons unscrupulous reality-show creators and their hungry audiences.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Manuscript

Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION