The Great American Boogaloo by Paul Flower

From his woodland bunker in Michigan, Bo ‘Big Bruddah’ Watts has assembled a scratch army of gun-toting militiamen, and he’s ready to use it. Rumours are circulating that the liberal, female President of the USA is going to fight climate change by banning beef, snatching the great American hamburger from the mouths of patriots. Big Bruddah missed the last militia uprising. That one, sparked by a conspiracy theory about a deadly virus and stolen cheese recipes, ended in failure when his now ex-wife, Miky Spike, stopped the potentially bloody conflict at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Wisconsin.

He is determined to stop the president, with the help of eccentric octogenarian Wilbur Tuttle, who runs Silver Eagle Security, the private military enterprise owned by the hapless former governor of Michigan, Bill Hoeksma.

The plan is to launch a coup in Tampa, Florida by kidnapping the President’s daughter and then installing Hoeksma as a puppet President. With the support of Silver Eagle’s best men, Big Bruddah and Tuttle hope to ignite the long-awaited insurrection militia members call the “boogaloo.” What could possibly go wrong?

Review

The Great American Boogaloo By Paul Flower is a first class satire, using intelligent writing and humour to delve into the world of the American right! Conspiracy theories abound, as does the writers obvious skill at delving under the surface of the madness on which the story is based.

It is at it’s heart a comedy of errors and a tale of the absurd behaviour of the militia groups and right wing politicians, who have decided that the American president has to be stopped, before she bans not just guns, but their right to eat beef and hug cows!

I loved that Paul Flowers didn’t hold back, he lets rip and brings to life not just the absurdity of their beliefs, but the dangers behind their ideology. Satire is hard to do and although I did not laugh continuously, I was glad that I didn’t, because he took the time to show me, not only how mad they are, but also how dangerous. This is humour with a healthy dose of respect for the dangers these people pose.

The characterisation is spot on. These are not caricatures, but an all to real depiction of the type of people these groups attract. The misfits, the racists, the losers, homophobes, basically any one determined that progress is halted at any cost. Men like Bo ‘Big Braddah’ are littered throughout the book. The writer not only managed to make me laugh, most of all he made me pity men like Big Bruddah, because he brought them to life and delved into the sadness at the centre of such men, into their paranoia.

It is the lightness of touch that makes this story both very very funny, but also oddly moving. To be able to laugh at these groups, is only possible, because Paul Flower’s uses humour to great effect.

I really enjoyed it and if you like your comedy full of wonderfully drawn characters, so will you.

You can buy this novel from Amazon

About the author

Paul Flower was born and raised in Michigan and still resides there. He has been writing professionally for more than 37 years. While much of his career has been spent in advertising and marketing, he worked in broadcasting for a short time. Paul has one previously published novel to his credit, and his writing has appeared in national and regional magazines. He and his wife have four grown children and a rapidly evolving number of incredibly beautiful and intelligent grandchildren.