A dark, clever tale of two brothers, a fishing trip, misconceptions, drugs and murder, South of the Pumphouse skillfully combines classic motifs of epic struggle and intelligent layers of imagery, reminiscent of The Old Man and the Sea, and the raw, tweaked perspective and hallucinogenic tutorial of a Hunter S. Thompson novel.

But like Les Claypool's music, the material is still hugely innovative, highly independent, and excruciatingly thought-provoking. South of the Pumphouse is sure to be a cult phenomenon, doing for books what Donnie Darko and the Coen brothers did for film: bringing disquiet back to the forefront of popular writing.