THE RUMP ON BRANNIGAN'S HEAD

A tissue thin first novel which presents the dilemma of the common man when he attempts to practice the golden rule, and which caricatures science, religion, business, boosters and gullible John Q. Public. It all starts with Brannigan's bump on the head when he resolves to win back his scientist son by being the Christian he professes to be. He chops down his hedge, restoring his neighbors' hearing which had been impaired by his former unfriendliness; he gives money to an assailant, cures arthritis, hives, and a crick in the neck all through his new-found kindness. The local newspaper capitalises on the events to boost circulation, dubs him a saint and starts a movement. Opposing the ballyhoo is Brannigan's son and his boss, a scientist, and normalcy returns to Brannigan when the paper brands him the Saturday night drunk that he is and the illusion of saintliness is shattered... A sterile, contrived force and semi-satire, which has little to say except perhaps that blood is thicker than water.