I was provided an advance copy of this book to read by SparkPoint Studio, which will be publishing it in February 2025 under its imprint, SparkPress. I hadn’t read any books by the author, Meredith O’Brien, before, and therefore came to the book with a blank slate, with no idea of what to expect. I was happy to find that I thoroughly enjoyed reading Louie on the Rocks, to the extent I couldn’t stop reading once I had gotten into it, and I finished it in close to one sitting. I also found it a very easy read, with the story told in a simple, conversational style the way people in real life actually talk to each other. It is also the first book I have read that directly takes on divisive Trump-era politics, and it was so interesting to read a fictionalized version of what so many families went through in the aftermath of Trump’s shocking defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election.

Set in 2019 in a small town in Massachusetts, close to two years after Trump’s upset victory, Louie on the Rocks is primarily the story of the feud between Louie Francis, a white man in his late sixties who is an ardent Trump supporter, and his adult daughter, Lulu Francis, who is gay, liberal, and fervently opposed to Trump and his MAGA-style politics. While they were always at odds with each other given their opposing world views and even their temperaments – Louie is brash, arrogant, and aggressive, while Lulu is sensitive, lacking in self-confidence, and easily intimated – they were somewhat kept together as a family unit by Helen Francis, Louie’s wife and Lulu’s mother, who served as the glue that held them together. While her political leanings were on Lulu’s side and she loved her daughter more than anything else in the world, she was also able to keep Louie in check for the most part by being a good and genuinely loving wife.

But after she dies suddenly – stricken by a particularly aggressive form of pancreatic cancer – the fragile peace she brokered between Louie and Lulu evaporates. Louie can’t stand Lulu, her lifestyle, her LGBTQ-ness, and her liberal politics. On her part, Lulu doesn’t want anything to do with her father after Helen’s funeral, beyond the perfunctory phone call to wish him during the holidays.

However, this “not wanting to do anything with each other” state of affairs – which both Louie and Lulu are perfectly happy with – does not last. Barely six months after Helen’s death, Louie becomes besotted with a beautiful young woman, Christall, who has started working in the bar he frequents. He gives her the job of walking his dog, and is soon wining and dining with her, buying her expensive gifts, and giving her large amounts of money to get treatment for her opioid addition. His reasoning is that he loves being with her, she makes him happy, and there is no reason why he cannot spend his own money to help her if that’s what he wants. Even when she steals some of his checks, forges his signature on them to withdraw money, and steals his credit cards and uses them to make large purchases, he declines to go to the police and press charges. Additionally, he also starts drinking more heavily and is drunk most of the time, getting into brawls at the bar he goes to, neglecting the upkeep of his house, as well as not looking after his dog who had to be hospitalized because of poisoning.

Lulu, who would like nothing better than to stay out of her father’s life and get on with hers, is forced to step in once the bank has alerted her of the check forgeries and large withdrawals, the police have notified her of the fights in the bar, and the neighbors have sounded the alarm on Louie’s drinking and neglect of the house and the dog. She is advised to file to become a court-appointed “temporary conservator” for his finances before he loses all his money to Christall. This, of course, is anathema to Louie, and he is furious. The battle lines are drawn, and both Louie and Lulu go about seeking affidavits to submit to the court from the people they know who are sympathetic to their respective points of view.

Much of the novel is told in the form of these affidavits that have been submitted, interspersed with first-person accounts of Louie and Lulu throughout the year, capturing their thoughts and actions. There are even some chapters told posthumously by Helen, who seems to be stuck in some kind of limbo after her death and can see what is going on with both Louis and Lulu. There are plenty of wry observations, astute insights, and several laugh-out moments. It is not easy to pull off a narrative by a ghost, but after the initial weirdness, it fits right in and allows key plot points in the story to be captured.

The only criticism I have of the book is its lack of surprises. There are no plot twists of any kind such as, for example, Louie suddenly having a change of heart, or Lulu developing some fondness for her father, or even Christall slipping up and being exposed as a gold-digger to Louie. The book hums along steadily towards its foregone conclusion where there is no doubt that Louie is being scammed by Christall and is assigned a temporary conservator for his finances. There is no defense here of Trump or of his MAGA-style politics, and all of those, like Louie, who support him are mostly portrayed as deranged and obnoxious.

While I am fully on board with where the book’s sympathies lie, I cannot help but wonder what the response to it will be given that Trump has just been decisively re-elected for a second term.

Louie on the Rocks
Author: Meredith O’Brien
Publisher: SparkPress 
Publication Date: February 2025

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Contributor: Lachmi Khemlani is a fan of the written word.