Title: Slush Fund

Author: djr

Genre: Dark humor

In Slush Fund by djr, Bishop loses his uncle Frank, and the whole extended family goes ballistic, expecting a large inheritance from the late millionaire. When the prospects of the inheritance disappear, Bishop buys a lottery ticket and puts it in his uncle’s pocket during the funeral. As luck would have it, the ticket is a winner, and what ensues is a dilemma of who digs up Uncle Frank first to claim the millions and how far they are willing to go to get it.

From the opening lines of Slush Fund, the reader knows that djr’s story is going to be a thrilling, humorous, and fun ride. Writing humor isn’t easy, but the author has a natural affinity for it, never failing to go more than a couple of pages without another funny line or inappropriate remark from a character. Bishop has the misfortune of being part of a highly dysfunctional family that, for all its downsides, still has heart.

Uncle Frank was the bachelor millionaire uncle who was the patriarch of the family, who everyone looked up to, and therefore, their expectations that he would leave them all a slice of his money pie upon his death were high. When the reading of the will said otherwise, their true colors shine even brighter…or would that be darker?

Greed and backstabbing ensue with every turn of the page, with much hilarity, but djr’s story has a pleasantly surprising amount to say about morals. The brilliant way in which the author has Bishop’s character make a positive, huge transformation comes about through a series of bad judgments and character flaws. His growth is real and relatable. The underlying seriousness that is not only Bishop’s unhappiness, but his family’s as well, is their harrowing unhappiness. They are miserable people at heart who have forgotten their blessings, including all that Uncle Frank did for them while he was alive.

Such poignancy is even more lovely when it comes through the ugliness of this family’s problems and is found nestled among humor. What really hits at the reader’s own heart is the timeless truth of the narrative, how people who are miserable toward others are often that way because they are broken. Dare they be reminded of the love that holds a family together when all else is stripped away, perhaps there is hope for redemption and restoration.

Djr’s colorful characters extend beyond the Fisher clan to include a fake, French, alcoholic painter named Henry and a brilliant, yet crazy, inventor named Mauve who seems to randomly inhabit Uncle Frank’s mansion. These folks serve as Bishop’s mentors and go-tos when he has no one else and are also more than mere pawns of humor. Djr uses these extra characters to advance the plot.

The author does not hold anything back as far as graphic descriptions of death, the process of embalming, and the decay of the body, so readers ought to keep this in mind when picking up this novel.

Slush Fund is a dual-edged tale that is both a fun romp on the surface and a deep dive into the human psyche. Djr’s ability to use dark humor to contrast the light of true love and the moral high ground is a stroke of brilliant writing. Readers who enjoy a good laugh but also aren’t afraid to explore the deeper, even darker, side of human nature will enjoy Slush Fund.

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