South of the Pumphouse

A brothers’ fishing trip goes disturbingly off course in this drug-fueled backwater noir—the debut novel by the art-rock pioneer and frontman for Primus.

In the rural town of El Sobrante, California, two estranged brothers are reunited. While Earl Paxton never left, Ed moved on to a new life in Berkley. When the death of their father brings Ed back home, a fishing trip seems like the perfect way to reconnect. But Ed didn’t count on Donny Vowdy joining the party. As frustrations, alcohol, and hallucinogens start dredging up old grudges and long-held rivalries, the trip soon takes an unsettling turn.

A dark, clever tale of brotherhood, misconceptions, drugs and murder, South of the Pumphouse combines classic motifs of epic struggle, evocative imagery, and the raw, tweaked perspective of a Hunter S. Thompson novel.