Taking a pop at the fizzy drinks industry

The Accidental Spurrt by Walt Pilcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Vintage Pilcher and a great follow up to Everybody Shrugged (which now looks prescient given the state of world politics). The Accidental Spurrt takes a pop at the fizzy drinks industry. Pilcher is a master of the absurd. The strands of multinational concerns, of personal relationships, of struggling individuals just trying to eke out a living all coalesce with breathtaking speed and you can only watch with gritted teeth as the collision happens in front of your eyes.

Mark Fairley is pushed into taking on a job for Spurr Nutritionals. He has no choice, having just been downsized out of employment. They want him to ghostwrite the history of the family business, no more, no less. They certainly don't want him, or anyone, getting wind of the bizarre accident on the bottling line. Mark himself wants no more than an uncomplicated relationship with the firm so he can do the job and get the dosh.

Alas, we don't always get what we want.

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